


The Knights of Ren - Star Wars Episode IX

by reedcom



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Gen, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:19:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28188324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reedcom/pseuds/reedcom
Summary: After events of The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren seeks for secrets to more power, while General Hux seeks to destroy him.Rey searches for Force sensitive people, while the Resistance fights against the First Order.  This story takes place after the events of Star Wars - The Last Jedi and replaces The Rise of Skywalker.
Kudos: 3





	1. The Message

# The Message

"This plan is crazy Poe", said Finn, "what if they detect us?"

Poe Dameron, in the cockpit of a small Resistance transport, looked out, "Relax, everything is under control, we'll just glide to the surface once we get in the atmosphere, they won't notice a thing..."

A loud metallic "thump" was heard outside the ship. "What was that???" said Finn.

"Just a container banging against something. We are like an Ardinian bush fly sitting on the back of a bantha, they won't notice a thing!" said Poe.

Half of Poe's view out the cockpit was obscured by about forty metal shipping containers, which were sticking out the end of a very large triangular First Order container transport. The Resistance ship was attached to the back hull of the transport ship, and together they all slowly moved towards the planet Lothal.

Rey and Finn were dressed like First Order maintenance workers, and Poe was dressed as an officer. C-3PO looked like, well, himself. A young man, new to the Resistance, with brown hair and a baby face, was nervously bouncing his knee up and down as they waited. His dirty maintenance attire didn't match his smooth skin.

"Oh! oh!" Streak said out of nowhere, "when I was a kid, we used to fly around and try to whack fogars with our speeder as they jumped out of the swamp." Streak continued fidgeting..."That was fun, that was fun". What did you guys play as kids?"

Finn looked up and said, "I was a stormtrooper, we didn't have fun".

Poe quickly interjected, "No dates either, right Finn? No girls allowed?"

"Let's focus on the mission, we have to get this message out to the galaxy." Finn said.

Streak turned to Rey, "So, Rey, you are one of those Jedi Masters, right? You can enchant the stormtrooper's minds if we get in trouble or make their heads explode, right?"

Rey, sitting in the back of the ship, calmly smiled, "Well, I'm not that powerful, but I'll protect you".

Streak leaned over and whispered to Finn "Can Jedi have boyfriends?" Finn whispered back, "No, nope they can't, it's in the Jedi text, yep, chapter three...three eight", and looked away.

Streak jumped up with nervous energy and stretched, twisting left and right, then bonked his head on the ship scaffolding. "Owww, ugh...."

Poe pointed right at Streak, "Hey Streak, we got this, all we have to do is get to a computer terminal, and you and R2 get us online, easy stuff!"

Poe, looking out the cockpit again announced, "Ok we are entering the atmosphere, ready to disconnect....NOW!"

The ship made a clunking sound and glided away, banking to the right of the cargo ship's trajectory towards the surface.

Streak looked at the droid, "Hey C-3PO, how do you think we will do?".

C-3PO turned and said, "I put our odds of success at forty seven..."

Poe, looking ahead shouted "DON'T LISTEN TO THAT DROID...LANDING NOW..."

The small Resistance shuttle craft landed in a remote area behind a hill, near a road to a First Order building. The three maintenance workers and one officer exited the rebel ship with a floating platform carrying five containers.

Poe said "3PO, you stay back in the ship, get it ready for our exit".

"What? Why do I have to stay with the ship? I'm a protocol droid, not a pilot!"

"Just stay there!" Poe retorted.

The group walked casually up to the front door of the First Order Communications Facility. It was a circular building with six floors and a thin, tall antenna sticking out the top.

Poe calmly approached the single guard "These workers have some computer equipment to replace." Poe squinted as he looked at his hand-held data pad. "This is my first time in this facility, can you tell me where the server room is?"

Rey, obscured in the back of the group, waved her hands without raising her arms.

"I will guide you to the fourth floor" the guard said robotically.

Streak looked at Finn and gestured towards Rey with a look like "did she just do that?"

They were escorted to the fourth floor server room, a room with only computer equipment. Once behind the door, everyone sighed with relief.

Poe grinned, "I told you, this is easy".

Finn looked through the window by the door, standing guard. A container top popped open and out jumped R2-D2 with a brief burst of his side-jets.

Streak said "R2-D2, are you ready?"

R2 beeped and whirled excitedly. R2 plugged into the mainframe and Streak got on another terminal, typing furiously.

"Let me know when you've broken into the First Order broadcast feed, the galaxy needs some General Leia wisdom!", said Poe.

After a couple tense minutes, Streak exclaimed "it's broadcasting! It's broadcasting everywhere!"

Poe nervously said "VERY GOOD! Now is when the First Order starts panicking!"

The message played for sixteen tense seconds, then cut off.

Streak looked up, and quietly mumbled, "I have a bad feeling about this".

Poe said, "OK, They probably know where we are now, LET'S MOVE!".

Rey stood up and pulled the side off one of the containers with the Force. Out shot her lightsaber straight into her hand.

The group ran out of the door and down the hallway towards the elevator. Two stormtroopers engaged the group from the end of the hallway. Poe shot one trooper, but another kept them from reaching the elevator.

Rey stood in front of the others and blocked bolts with her lightsaber. The group abandoned the elevator and moved down another hallway to the left.

Soon, more stormtroopers joined the fight. Poe found a simple button to open a large door, and the Rebels ran inside. This room appeared to be where food is served for the building staff. Undecorated metal tables and chairs were orderly spaced, with a line of food dispensers from openings in the far wall.

Two troopers with helmets off were standing near the dispensers, they did not appear to have weapons, and two others in simple gray First Order attire were sitting. Finn shot one of the troopers instinctively, and the other three were shocked and cowered. Poe yelled at them to move to the side of the room. Finn, Streak and Rey got behind metal tables.

Shuffling was heard outside the room. Soon, the door blasted open and bolts appeared to shoot out from the smoke into the room.

Finn and Poe continued fighting while Rey, standing in front, blocked laser bolts.

Finn yelled "WE HAVE NO EXIT!"

Laser bolts shot across the room back and forth, but another bolt came from the side of the room and hit Finn in the shoulder. One of the troopers with his helmet off had a gun. Finn yelled and hid fully behind a table. The room had no windows, no side doors, the Rebels were trapped, from two directions.

Rey tried to concentrate and listen to the Force, amidst the chaos of the fight, and had a revelation. Rey moved to a wall and said "COVER ME!".

Poe and Streak laid down cover fire towards the main entrance, while Finn shot towards the solo trooper that shot him. Rey took her lightsaber and started to cut a hole in the wall next to her. Bolts started exploding on the wall near Rey. Rey dropped one hand from the saber and pointed her palm at the troopers, while the other continued cutting the side wall. With much concentration, she slowly cut the wall and created a Force bubble around her. After about thirty seconds the cut was complete, she stepped back and blasted the cut open with a Force push.

"GO THROUGH!" Rey yelled, and the Rebels started moving through.

This room appeared to be a large meeting room with a large table and a large window in the back.

Rey looked back and shouted, "MOVE TO THE WINDOW AND GET READY!"

Rey, using the Force, lifted two chairs in the room and threw them at the stormtroopers through the hole in the wall, knocking some down. She then turned her aim around at the large window near the back of the room and blew out the window. The large explosion and flying shards of glass made the team cower.

Rey shouted, "JUMP TOGETHER WHEN I SAY SO.......NOW!


	2. The Sand

# The Sand

Understanding what Rey was up to, Poe and Finn jumped together, except R2-D2 who flew out the window on his own.

But Streak, unsure about plunging to his death, hesitated. Rey ran to the window and yelled "JUMP STREAK!". Streak finally jumped, but seconds after the others.

Rey looked out the window as the group was falling, and reached out with the Force to slow their descent. But, because Streak jumped late, she was unable to slow his fall. Streak dropped to the ground and yelled out in pain. Rey gasped, then jumped out the window and slowed her own descent with the Force.

Poe shouted "THE SHIP IS THAT WAY, WE HAVE TO CUT ACROSS", and pointed to a large patch of desert before a hill which partially hid the ship. Finn grabbed Streak in an attempt to help him walk. Poe urgently spoke into his communicator, "3PO! GET THE SHIP READY...WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!

C-3PO looked out across the tundra and saw the team in the distance, but did not hear anything in his communicator. "Oh, my! My friends are in trouble!", and started shuffling towards the group.

The Resistance made their way across the large area of desert sand, littered with occasional rocks and sparse patches of grass. In the distance, the stormtroopers left the front door of the facility.

The loose sand was making it very difficult to run. They were about half-way to the ship when the seven stormtroopers pursing them got within range to start shooting. Poe yelled out, "FINN, KEEP GOING WITH STREAK, R2, GET TO THE SHIP!"

Streak turned to Finn, "I'm slowing you down...can I borrow a leg?"

"We have three, keep going!"

The troopers made their way onto the sand. Poe was wisely close to Rey so she could shield him somewhat, but not close enough so that she would accidentally impale her. A bolt whizzed by Rey's saber and grazed her leg. "I CANNOT BLOCK THIS MANY AT ONCE!" exclaimed Rey, as the troopers closed in.

"PUT DOWN YOUR GUN, WE WON'T MAKE IT." Poe dropped his gun and raised his hands. Rey likewise dropped her saber in front of her. The troopers stopped firing and yelled at them to keep their hands outstretched and visible. The troopers formed a half circle around Poe and Rey, while Finn and Streak ahead stopped running and turned.

The troopers got out two pairs of stun cuffs while others covered Finn and Poe.

Suddenly the ground started shaking and rumbling. The troopers paused and looked down. The ground stopped shaking, and the troopers slowly brought their aim back to Poe and Rey. Poe and Rey were completely still. The closest trooper moved in to put cuffs on Rey when suddenly a giant, oval headed, brown creature popped out of the sand and grabbed the trooper by the leg with its teeth. The trooper was pulled into the sand to his waist, screaming. Another trooper yelled out "SAND MOLES!", and all troopers started frantically shooting into the ground.

The troopers scattered, shooting as they ran. Rey and Poe grabbed their weapons and started running towards the ship again. "GO, GO!" yelled Poe. The bitten trooper remained motionless.

Another trooper was grabbed briefly, then the mole disappeared again under the sand. The ground shook beneath Poe and Rey and they looked down. A sand mole popped out of the ground and attempted to grab Rey. But Rey sensed the attack and moved to the side. Poe and Rey stopped moving and looked down, panicking. Screams were heard from the troopers. The mole popped out of the ground near Rey again. This time Rey jumped, anticipating the bite, and came down on the nose of the creature with her elbow. The creature was stunned and did not return to the sand.

Rey and Poe started sprinting. Ahead they saw a mole pop out of the ground and bite Streak. Streak's good leg was bitten viciously and pulled into the ground. Streak screamed out in horror. Finn shot randomly into the ground.

"Pop your head out again, I dare you!"

The mole popped up again and nearly grabbed Finn. A few seconds passed then Streak was bitten again, but this time on the other leg. Rey arrived and plunged her lightsaber into the ground and pulled it out. The ground still rumbled. She then plunged her saber again into the ground, and swept across the sand. A muffled scream was heard and the mole's head popped out of the ground, only to stop moving.

The troopers still standing were down to four, and most had made it back onto the solid road. Finn was dragging Streak, who was losing blood. C-3PO, who was running towards the group was suddenly grabbed himself and pulled down, and his head was violently smashed against a rock in the process. R2-D2, who was hovering three feet above the ground, ignited his flamethrower at the mole. Poe grabbed 3PO and put him over his shoulder. They finally made it to the ship, started the engines hurriedly and took off.

In the ship, R2-D2 sadly beeped and whirred at the sight of C-3PO. The others were gathered around Streak, trying to wrap his wounds to prevent more blood loss.

Streak whispered, "First mission success?"

Finn said back, "Definitely, Leia's message will turn the tide".

Streak smiled, closed his eyes, and his breathing stopped.

Rey stepped back, horrified. She did not protect.


	3. Resistance Base

# Resistance Base

The hidden Resistance base was surrounded by green, tall trees with wide, study branches. Connecting the trees was a covering of green ivy like growth which created a canopy over the base. This growth blocked much of the bright light of its nearby sun.

Rey threw her saber ahead of her, igniting as it left her hand. She then performed an acrobatic Force-aided jump from one large branch to another as the saber sliced through a gluttonbug hive and headed towards her hand as she landed. Except the saber did not reach its destination, it hit a tree trunk and deflected away from its target. Rey dropped her head in disappointment and stopped to rest.

"I'm sorry, since the mission, my mind has been scattered..." Leia sat down next to Rey and allowed time for her to finish. "I can't settle on one emotion..."

"I wasn't powerful enough to save the team. There has to be a way to become more powerful besides practicing flips and moving rocks. I know I have the Jedi texts, but there has to be more that I don't know. All knowledge is neither good nor bad, right? As long as I use it for good?"

Leia finally spoke, "Rey, I know this is hard for you, but it's not your fault, losses happen in war. You don't need to dabble in the darkness, you are already doing everything you should be doing."

Rey was slow to respond, "How is 3PO?"

"The technicians are not sure, but it appears he may not be the same bubbly droid we remember. R2 hasn't left his side."

Rey looked down, "More losses..."

"But we have seen a few inquiries to join our cause after the message went out", Leia continued, "it would have been far worse without you."

Rose Tico approached cautiously, "Excuse me Rey, I brought you some sliced meiloorun fruit, I know you like that. I hope you feel better."

"Thank you Rose, I appreciate it", replied Rey.

"Oh, and also, could I take a look at the Jedi texts again? After figuring out how to rebuild your lightsaber, I want to see what other stuff I...I mean we can learn, it's just so fascinating!"

"Well, it's a dull read, but sure Rose you can read them anytime, just don't learn everything about the Force and turn into 'Darth Rose', OK?"

"Don't worry, the only thing I can move with my mind is Finn, every time I walk near him he walks the other way!", said Rose with a smile.

"He's...Finn is...I'm sure it's temporary", Rey replied.

Rose walked away and Rey turned to Leia again. "Leia, something I've always wondered about, what you can you tell me about Ben? How was his childhood? How did he...", and Rey stopped herself.

Leia bowed her head and hesitated before responding. "His childhood was good, for many years, we had a happy family. About age 12 he noticed he had powers other kids did not have, started to show off, and to bully other kids. His friends were a bad influence on him. His father scolded him harshly, and Ben did not like that one bit. He threw a cup from across the room at Han using the Force, and Han being Han, tore into him even more. I was usually the peacemaker, but I couldn't prevent their fighting. I think that's when he started to pull away from his father."

"Han and I discussed what to do with him, we wanted him to fulfill his potential, so we sent him away to train with Luke. I think Ben wanted to learn to become a Jedi, but also resented that we sent him away. We had less contact with him while he was with Luke than we should have, just like good Jedi parents. Then Snoke discovered him, somehow without Luke knowing, and piqued Ben's ambitions, and you know what happened next."

Rey, quietly listening, looked up at Leia. "Leia, I am so sorry for what has happened, but despite everything I still sense good in him."

"I know...I know it's there too, I just hope it's not buried too deep."

************

A few minutes later, Poe, Leia and Rose were together near the communications equipment.

Poe spoke first, "Leia, the mission was a success, your message went out to the galaxy, part of it. But what do we do now?"

"Poe, you are our leader, what do you think?", said Leia

Rose interjected, "What if we had a public figure, somebody who would declare their support for the Resistance. If the First Order hurt them, the First Order would look terrible to the galaxy and we would get more support!"

"The galaxy already knows the treachery of the First Order, they have power because of fear. That public figure would be killed quickly, and it would just instill more fear", said Leia.

Poe replied, "What if we got a few politicians, old senators or something who publicly showed a little support for us, but appeared to play both sides, and quietly sent us supporters? You politicians can be spies also, right?"

Rose interjected again, "I'll do it!"

"Well, Rose, you need a following first, and these people would be risking their lives. We have a few friends that do similar things, but most prominent figures are gone now after the massacre of Starkiller base."

Leia continued, "Poe, I want you to think about this some more, but the answer may not come from thinking harder about strategy. Listen to others, the Force may inspire someone besides us three."

***********

Finn noticed Maz sitting alone near an old, non-working X-wing fighter. The canopy of the overhead ivy blocked out direct sunlight, but it still created a sparkle in Maz's goggles.

"Hello Maz, mistress Maz, can you help me understand something? What exactly is Rey capable of? How powerful is she? I love Rey...um I mean as a friend...but It seems like the Resistance is depending on one person and all the bad guys want to do is target her first."

Max calmly looked into Finn's eyes. "Finn, the Force is not for just special people like Rey and Kylo Ren."

"What? You know you and I can't move things with our mind, only the Jedi" retorted Finn.

"Child, everybody has some of the Force in them, if you quiet your mind and believe, you can feel it too. Yes, Rey will always be more sensitive than you and I, but there is a portion of the Force in you also."

Finn stood up, slightly flabbergasted, "Well, I've never felt the Force, and I don't know any regular people that have. And can Rey be killed? If she trains enough can she be hurt?"

"I have been around a long time, and I have seen Jedi and Sith die. Yes, they can."

With that, Finn spotted C-3PO, who was being worked on under a tent a short distance away.

C-3PO turned to Finn and said, "Hello, I am C-3PO, protocol droid, at your service."

Finn turned to the technician working on him, who was still fastening his head into his body. Most of the color on C-3PO's head was silver instead of gold and scuffed instead of shiny. R2-D2 was by his side.

"You guys fixed him, that's great! But wait, he doesn't recognize me?"

The technician replied, "We weren't able to recover most of his memories. He can still function as a protocol droid from his base programming, but may not recall much else."

"Hey 3PO, you remember yesterday I was alone with you, and said those secret things about Rey and Rose, right?"

C-3PO looked coldly at Finn, "I am fluent in millions of forms of communication, but I have no record of a rose or a ray. I am sorry. What is your name?"

R2-D2, who was next to C-3PO, suddenly slammed into C-3PO's metal thigh. "Excuse me, sir, would you please stop bumping your large..."

R2 bumped him again, this time harder. "My goodness, this droid must be malfunctioning, can you fix it please?" as he turned to the technician.

R2 bumped a third time. "Alright you mangey bucket of bolts, I don't know who you are, you stop that right now! I've had just about enough of you!"

Finn spoke up, "3-PO, you were in an accident, you don't remember R2? He was your best friend!"

"I don't know what you are talking about, there is no way I could be friends with this trash can!", and with that C-3PO turned away from Finn to look at the technician. "Can you plug me in good sir, I need more power."

R2-D2 whirred a sad whir.


	4. The Caretaker

# The Caretaker

The low rumble of the engines of Supreme Leader Kylo Ren's huge command ship could be quite comforting. But to General Hux, today it was irritating. The ship was now in orbit over Lothal, the location of the latest Resistance attack.

Hux was looking over some charts on a monitor when Kylo Ren approached.

"General Hux, your lazy security once again allowed the Resistance another victory."

"Their message only broadcast for 16 seconds, hardly enough time to rally the galaxy against us, besides if it wasn't for the creatures on that plan..."

Kylo interrupted Hux, "You should have had more guards at that facility, more excuses" said Kylo Ren as he looked him in the eyes.

Hux snapped back, "If we were not spread so thin trying to conquer every planet in the galaxy, perhaps we would have more troops available!"

Kylo paused and looked at Hux in the eyes, "Do you like farming, General? This is your third failure in a month. Fix it or you will be fertilizing crops, with your corpse."

Hux gave a slight bow and slowly replied "Yes, Supreme Leader".

Kylo Ren turned to a nearby officer, "Prepare my ship!"

General Hux watched Kylo Ren carefully as he walked away.

Kylo Ren's ship entered the atmosphere of the planet Mustafar. Rumors were that his grandfather, Darth Vader, had a fortress here. The heat from the planet was heating up the instruments in Kylo's ship as it descended. The planet still contained many rivers of flowing lava. When the lava flowed into a body of water, it would produce large amounts of steam which clouded the atmosphere. However, the planet was appearing to heal, some vegetation was clearly beginning to grow across the land, but not enough to significantly change the coloring from its orange glow. There appeared to be few people left on the planet, mostly around pockets of mining, mostly non-humans who could withstand the heat.

Kylo circled the small planet, looking for locations of interest, but he especially wanted to find his grandfather's castle. He followed a large river of lava upstream until he saw a giant, tall structure, with a flow of lava pouring out of the base of it. The fortress had walls several meters thick with rock. It reached hundreds of meters high, with what looked like twin tuning forks reaching into the sky. Kylo found an open area near the fortress and landed his ship.

Kylo walked around the fortress until he found an opening apparently blasted open by some explosion of the past. The castle was almost completely dark, the sun above provided a little light through its thick atmosphere, and the lava below illuminated somewhat, but not enough to penetrate the castle walls significantly. Kylo found his way to what appeared to be the center of the fortress, where the twin towers found its base. There was a seam of lava encircling the base of the towers and an altar made of rock.

Kylo looked up and around, the air was still. He knelt down on the altar, and began to meditate. The dark side was strong here, it penetrated his very soul and he could feel his sensitivity to the Force heighten. His mood darkened and felt himself become more angry, more fearful, more hungry, more powerful.

As he mediated, he felt the presence of someone else nearby. His eyes cracked open and looked to his left. A tall, thin hooded creature was watching him from the corner of the room, illuminated by the seams of lava in the room. Kylo arose from kneeling and put his hand on his saber. The creature slowly approached.

The creature spoke, "I know you, I foresaw your arrival." The creature was native to this planet, a Mustafarian. It was a tall, bony and thin insectoid creature with two arms and two legs about the same length. It had a bald head and a hunched back, and two large bug-like eyes. It was hooded and carrying a staff. The staff had an oval object on the bottom and a blade on the top.

"You are of the loins of Darth Vader, the creator of this fortress."

"Who are you! How do you know who I am?" Kylo looked at the creature, dumbfounded and cautious.

"Do not worry, I am no Sith Lord looking for an apprentice, I am the Karr Corvax, caretaker of this castle. I am neither good nor evil, Jedi or Sith, and intend you no harm."

Kylo Ren took his hand off of his saber. "Keep your distance, creature. What is this place? What is it used for?"

"This was an ancient Sith temple, you can probably feel the dark side here. Darth Vader built this to become closer to dark side, and to be able to contact his love."

Kylo paused and stepped closer to Karr Corvax. "I am his grandchild. Did he succeed?"

Karr replied, "Vader connected to the dark side, and saw many things, but failed to communicate with your grandmother."

"How did this altar work? Is it powered? What does it do?"

"This castle has not been used to channel the Force for many years, it is now just an empty building. Sometimes it has visitors such as yourself, curious visitors, Sith, Inquisitors, simple adventurers, even Jedi. But the building itself does nothing now."

Kylo paused to look around. "How then did you know I was coming? I think you are lying, there is more to this place."

"I assure you the building does nothing. I have traces of Sith heritage in my blood, I feel the Force and can sometimes see into the future. I saw your coming arrival years ago."

Kylo reached for his lightsaber, ignited it and threw it at Karr. It flipped through the air and barely missed his head and lodged itself into the wall behind him. He then used the Force to pull it back to his hand.

"I see...if you were a Sith you would have blocked my throw. Then is your power really in your blood, or something else?" Kylo raised his hand to the caretaker and held him in place as he walked towards him. When Kylo came within a few meters of the creature, he started peering into his mind with the Force.

"What is in your mind...caretaker?"

The caretaker turned his staff to face Kylo, but not the end with the blade, but the bottom end with the oval object. Kylo recoiled back several feet, he was certain it was a Force push centered square in his chest. The insectoid put the staff on his back, fell forward to have all four appendages on the ground, and started scuttling out of the room towards an opening in the floor next to the far wall. Kylo recovered to see Karr Corvax escaping, moving faster than a human can run. He reached out with the Force to hold him in place right before he reached the opening. Kylo walked up to the creature and swiftly cut his staff in half with his saber. He picked up the oval shaped rock on the end and pulled it out of the staff. Karr Corvax's eyes widened.

"This must be it, this is where your power comes from", said Kylo Ren.

"You do not know what you hold. Th..That is no Sith artifact, it is a Force holocron, it is neither good nor evil. It will do you no good in channeling the dark side. For you, I expect it will only bring you pain."

Kylo held the oval rock with his gloved hand. "We shall see what power this has", and he put it into his pocket. "Now as for you..."

The Mustafarian kicked away from Kylo's stomach and dove into the opening. The sound of the creature sliding down into the darkness could be heard. Kylo could not see where the narrow tunnel led to.

Kylo Ren backed away from the opening and pulled out the rock. It was oval shaped and smooth. Its coloring was half light gray and half dark gray, split right down the middle across the short side of its oval shape, with some imperfections. He took off his glove to hold it with his bare hand.

Suddenly Kylo Ren had a vision, scattered images, a fight with his father, great physical pain, a trooper firing at him, someone he cared about was injured, Luke training him, an AT-ST shooting at some rebels. Every image blended together and overwhelmed him. None of it was pleasant. He dropped the holocron and the visions stopped. Kylo was amazed and confused, but thought twice about touching it again, for now. After a moment to recover, he put his glove back on and returned the holocron to his pocket.


	5. Hux's Plan

# Hux's Plan

A few minutes after Supreme Leader Kylo Ren left, General Hux approached his second in command. "General Oth, I am leaving, you are in charge while I'm gone. Unless Kylo Ren returns before me and presses you for my whereabouts, you are to keep my absence quiet. Understood?"

"Yes, General, I understand".

General Hux took his personal ship to light speed. As he approached the planet Florrum, he opened a channel to communicate with someone.

"I am approaching your planet, is everything prepared for the attack?"

The gravelly voice on the other end said, "Yes we be ready. Do you have payment? You know, rumors are these guys we be stealing from are the brutal kind, our lives are risking, maybe we deserve more for this job?"

"The First Order will double your payment after completion of this job. Be ready to begin when I arrive", said Hux.

"Good"

General Hux landed his small ship and exited to find a band of fourteen disheveled looking fighters. The leader was tall and thin, with a bony, tanned head with twin braids of what Hux assumed to be hair coming out the back, and a natural scowl. He carried a long rifle and had dirty tan and brown clothes. There were six other creatures of the same Weequay race in the group, and four reptile looking Trandoshans, who were green and more muscular than the others. They had large, imposing teeth, large noses and red eyes. There was one female human and another of a pig-like race.

Hux surveyed the group, "Bring the coaxium to me and I will pay you. I will remain back at a safe distance."

"Let's go, men" said the leader of the pirates.

The group headed out. Hux remained far enough back to observe the attack, but not close enough to get involved.

The target appeared to be a building built into a mountain. It was not well maintained, it was colored to blend into the mountain, but everything looked worn. There was a ship resting on a flat surface against the mountain rock. There was a pair of antennae coming out of the building and another pair half-way up the mountain. There appeared to be only one way in, with four ordinary looking guards dressed in silver at the opening.

The pirate leader began the attack by sniping one of the guards. He fell immediately and another guard ran to a control panel and pushed a button, while the other two ran for cover behind a wall. A loud horn could be heard echoing everywhere.

The pirates charged the building, guns blazing. One pirate was shot before he reached the guards. A Trandoshan tackled the guard who pushed the button and sent a shot from his rifle into his stomach. Four pirates rushed and overwhelmed one guard with gunfire. The remaining guard escaped into the building.

Seven pirates grouped together and began to make their way into the building but stopped when they saw three people dressed in all black standing ahead of them.

All three wore masks, obscuring their faces. The humanoid in the center was covered in black. His mask had a checkered pattern of shiny silver covering his face, with a black helmet covering his head. He had a black, stiff cloak and armored black boots and arm guards. He carried a scythe, a thick staff which had a hooked, metal blade on the end almost a meter long. To his right was a thinner humanoid. She did not have a thick cloak, her black attire fit more closely to her female shape. Her face was obscured by a slim black helmet which appeared to also fit snugly around her face. She carried a long staff of about 2 meters long, with thicker ends. As she brought it forward, each end lit up with a red glow. The third person in black appeared larger and more muscular. He carried a tall axe and also had a thick black cloak. His face was obscured by a hood and a dark metal mask which had sharp angles.

The black shrouded female engaged three of the pirates with her staff. The staff whipped up and across, cutting the weapon of one pirate in half and then across ripping open the flesh of another pirate. The dark figure in the center rushed the leader of the pirates, and when he got within two meters of him reached out his hand. The pirate suddenly lost his footing and fell face first to the ground. The dark figure's blade came down on his neck, partially decapitating him. Two pirates retreated and tried to use blasters on the three figures. Bolts blasted off the largest of the three. The dark figure in the center raised is hand and redirected the bolts to a wall. The female blocked bolts with her staff.

Outside, another dark figure appeared on a ledge from the right side of the facility, and other on the left. One took a shot with a rifle at a pirate and they dropped to the ground immediately. The other took a round ball from attached to their belt and threw it high and out towards the pirates. He then raised his hand, the ball arched unnaturally to a group of 3 pirates and exploded.

The battle was over quickly. The dark figures appeared to have no casualties. All pirates were dead.

General Hux, watching from a distance, started walking slowly towards the opening. "Very good, very good. The rumors about you must be true! You are formidable!" Hux had no apparent weapons and raised his arms for all to see briefly.

The dark figures slowly gathered and walked towards the sole red-haired General.

"The mighty Knights of Ren are still powerful, even without its leader, Kylo Ren."

The dark figure in the center spoke, "I am the leader of the Knights, who are you to be so bold as to attack our home?"

"Well, well, yes, you see, I am General Hux, leader of the First Order army. I hired these pirate scum so I could meet you...and to watch you in action. Very impressive I say! You took down this pitiful band in no time, as I expected you would. Except those four guards, they weren't too talented, were they?"

"Those are not Knights, we just hired them to give us warning of an attack. They are nothing."

Hux smiled. "So, you left the training of the mighty Luke Skywalker, formed your own little band, and wreaked havoc on the galaxy. Then your leader abandoned you. That must have been such a blow to you! So what are you doing now? You are running a lowly crime syndicate, no longer the glorious Knights that the galaxy feared!

"Three of us here left Luke, and good to be rid of that place. We don't need Kylo, that traitor means nothing to us."

"Yes, well, I have a couple proposals for you. First, I want to hire you for special jobs only talented people such as yourself can do. And I bet you would like some revenge on Kylo for leaving you, don't you? I want him DEAD. I think we can work out a deal."

The Knights became quiet and looked at each other.

Hux continued, "The First Order has unlimited resources. But I think revenge is a thirst you most want to quench, isn't it?"

Baldaar Ren, the Knight who threw the grenade, spoke, looking at the other Knights, "I've dealed with First Order types like this. I trust them like I trust Toydarians. I don't." He took off his helmet to reveal a wide, humanoid face with pock marked skin darkened form the sun, and scattered hairs evenly across his face and head, except around his eyes and mouth.

Sosh Ren, the female Knight, also took off her helmet. She was a dark skinned Tholotian, with green eyes and several white tentacles protruding from her head. She interjected, "Can you find us Force sensitive children? You must have a list somewhere."

Hux turned to Sosh, "Yes, well you would think we would, but those freaks are more rare than you would think, and we have other priorities. No offense."

Garmoth Ren, their leader, also took off his helmet. He was clearly human, with light skin and light brown hair. His hair was long, and his eyebrows were thick, for a human.

"What Sosh wants is not what the Knights want", said Garmoth.

Baldaar Ren raised his weapon, "Why don't we just kill this guy now, we don't need First Orders to kill Kylo."

Hux leaned back and looked at Baldaar, "You will never get close to Kylo without me. As for myself, I am not totally defenseless."

Hux raised his sleeve to reveal a thick metal arm band with lights and buttons. He pointed his arm at Baldaar and pushed a button. Out shot several small flying bots which circled Baldaar, then about 2 seconds later, all at the same time, they shot a green bolt of light at him. Baldaar raised his hand to block two with the Force, but 4 other shots hit him. He fell to the ground.

"It's on a stun setting. And I can target a whole room. And if you try to impale me, I have light saber proof armor. Very handy around Kylo." Hux poked his chest with his finger. "So, do we have a deal?" said Hux.

Garmoth stood tall and handed a small, thick disk shaped object to General Hux. "We will be in touch. We will communicate with you through this, it's untraceable".

"Excellent...." General Hux gave a slight smile and turned to walk away.


	6. Visions

# Visions

Kylo Ren headed out of his grandfather's castle, his mind still reeling from what had just transpired. As he almost reached the opening to the "fresh" air of Mustafar, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Hello Ben."

Ben was startled, he turned around, opened his mouth in shock, then relaxed, "So...you are dead, I thought I felt you..."

The ghost of Luke Skywalker was standing 3 feet above the ground. He was wearing a gray robe. His age and bearded appearance appeared to Ben to be what it was during Ben's training.

Luke spoke again, "Ben, what are you looking for here? Your grandfather's path, my father's path, was a path he very much regrets, not something to emulate."

"I'm here to learn about my grandfather, maybe gain knowledge you didn't…"

Luke interrupted, "Knowledge about the dark side? Ben, I don't know how to say this, but I was wrong, that night, I over-"

"Are you going to haunt me forever?...if you do I'll…"

"You'll kill me?" Luke chuckles. "Ben, the pain and suffering you saw in the vision you just had, that is waiting for you if you do not change. There is peace in the light side."

Ben paused, looked at Luke, filling with anger. "I don't care about your light-side/dark-sides nonsense any longer, I've let the past die. You are the past. LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Luke bowed his head, and disappeared.

After a physically and emotionally exhausting day, Rey was asleep in her quarters at the Resistance base. Her mind drifted off…

"What did I do wrong for the mission to fail? How do we defeat the First Order? Who were my parents? How do we fight an enemy so vast and powerful? How could my parents abandon me? What if we had more Force sensitive people on our side? Do I smell bad when training?"

Her mind began to focus on Jakku. The impressions were powerful. She suddenly woke up, to the sight of two droids next to her.

"Excuse me miss" said C-3P0, you were talking in your sleep. I am fluent in millions of forms of communication, but I could not understand your dialect. What planet are you from?

Rey was not paying attention to C-3PO. "Jakku, Jakku". Rey was still groggy but wandered off to find Leia. Leia was awake, staring at the stars.

"Leia, I had the strangest dream. I think I know what our next mission should be, or what my next mission should be. It's the last place in the galaxy I want to go, but I feel I should go back to Jakku. I am not sure why, but the feeling is strong."

Leia patiently listened until Rey finished, "Then I think you should go. Do what you need to do. We will put your training on hold until you return."

"Ok…then, this is all so sudden, I'm sorry, thank you Leia for being wonderful."

"That is fine Rey, now go get some sleep."

Rey walked off to her quarters. Leia shouted to the droids, "3P0 and R2! I need you, I have a hunch."

C-3PO spoke, "Yes miss General? How may I be of assistance?"

"I need you two to research something for me", said Leia to the droids.

"Both of us? Why is this unit still with me?" said C-3PO.

"3PO, you were in an accident, you lost your memories, you used to be best friends with R2. Try to remember."

"Well, I still don't understand why I would be friends with this droid. He just makes strange sounds and follows me around!"

R2-D2 whirred and beeped. Leia looked at the droid "Yes R2, let me tell you what I want you to find."

The next day, Rey, Finn, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2 & BB-8 flew off to Jakku. Many emotions were flowing back into Rey. Jakku was not a pleasant experience for Rey. Her home since she was a young child, growing up she very much wanted to leave, but at the same time wanted to stay, waiting for her parents to return. She was abandoned here. She never planned on going back.

Rey had no idea where she was going, but landed in the city Porus, a different city than her old home. She had no memory of this place. Like her former home, it was continuous desert, with little vegetation. There were more trees here, but they provided little shelter from the sun. It appeared larger than she expected. There appeared to be a bustling corridor of trade merchants to the left, and what appeared to be homes or hotels to the right, and what appeared to be the center of the town up ahead.

After landing, R2-D2 beeped and whirred. Rey looked at R2-D2, "You are leaving? Um, we might need you."

C-3PO spoke, "Excuse me Rey, Leia has given this droid and I a special mission. We will be safe and return to the ship when we are done."

"This is unexpected, but I guess Leia knows what she is doing. Chewbacca, you should go with them", said Rey.

"Rraawwwrrr-werrr", Chewbacca said.

"Chewie, I will be OK, the droids need your protection more than me", said Rey.

Chewbacca snorted and nodded, and they went off towards the center of the town.

Finn turned to Rey, "Rey, why are we here? What is the mission?"

Rey, looking out at the town, said "I'm not sure, but I feel we should look for Force sensitive people. We need more than just me to defeat the First Order."

"People with your skills are really rare, how on earth do we find them?" said Finn.

"I don't know, but we should follow where the Force guides us."

They walked casually towards the right, BB-8 following close behind.

"Remember the last time we were here?" said Rey. "It was a lot of running."

"Yes I remember, we barely made it out alive."

"Maybe the Force helped us to run into each other that day?" said Rey.

"I don't know if the Force does that, but I'm glad we met" and Finn smiled.

They approached a man who appeared to be managing an inn, and Rey spoke first, "Excuse me sir, this is a strange request, but we are looking for someone with special abilities, they might be able to move objects with their mind, or anticipate things before they happen."

The inn keeper replied, "What does this person look like? I never seen any folk like that, but if I did, I'd hire them and make me some money in the races, heh!"

Finn said, "Never mind sir, sorry to bother you."

Rey, Finn and BB-8 wandered around talking to several people in the area for a couple hours, but found nothing, then BB-8 started beeping and rolling back and forth.

"What is it, BB-8?" said Rey. "R2 found something? What did he find? Meet them in the center of town?"

Rey, Finn and BB-8 made their way to find R2, C-3PO and Chewbacca. C-3PO was excited, "Thank the stars! This droid found something you are going to like, I didn't think he could, but he did!"

R2-D2 beeped and whirred. Rey wasn't sure what she heard, "What was that? I don't understand."

C-3PO said "He found your parent's names, and where they are!"

Rey stepped back and leaned against a nearby railing. She took several seconds to respond, "….oh…my."


	7. Gliph

# Gliph

Rey, Finn, Chewbacca and the droids got back into the ship and traveled to another city on Jakku. Again, Rey had no memory of this place. They made their way to an unkept graveyard, and to a wooden sign embedded just out of the ground, which read “Lieeth and Vandar”.

Rey stopped to take in the magnitude of the moment. She had wanted so long to find her parents, or for them to find her. And her wishes finally came true, but not in the way she wanted. Ben was right, they were dead, and they had sold her.

For a few minutes, nobody, not even the emotionless droids made a sound.

“Thanks mom and dad, for bringing me into this world, and I guess that’s all.”

Rey wiped a tear from her eyes, and waited a few minutes more. Chewbacca approached and put his large arm out to envelop Rey, and said something like “rawwwrr” softly. Rey looked up at Chewbacca and said, “I am glad I have you too Chewie.” She slowly turned with her back to her parent’s graves, “We have a job to do, let’s go.”

Finn cautiously spoke, “Where are we going, Rey?”

“We are going back to Porus, I don’t feel we are done there.”

The trip back was quiet. No one wanted to interrupt Rey.

When they reached the city Porus, at the mouth of the ship, Rey sat down to meditate.

“Finn, calm your mind and listen to the Force,” said Rey, “let it guide us.”

Finn said, “You go ahead, I’ve never felt the Force, I don’t think that works for regular people like me, besides it didn’t help us earlier.”

“Patience, Finn” said Rey softly.

After a few moments, they all headed towards the trade merchants. There were all kinds of people here, disheveled humans and aliens hawking produce, animals, furniture and even droids. There were a few First Order storm troopers scattered around, keeping watch. Rey and Finn raised the hoods on their cloaks.

Finn spotted a storm trooper alone, in a corner of a corridor. 

“Guys, you know how I was a storm trooper, I left, I know there are lots of troopers who want to leave. I want to capture one and see if he can maybe join us. Chewie and BB-8, come with me.”

“Finn, wait!” said Rey, “patience!”

Finn and Chewie walked casually by the storm trooper, to a dark opening in a side alleyway behind them. BB-8 waited, and then rolled up and bumped the trooper and ran off behind him to the opening. A “Rrraawwwrrr” and thumping was heard. Rey and the other droids quickly ran to see what had happened.

When they arrived, Rey found a trooper with his helmet off, dazed and confused from being knocked around by a large, furry, muscular creature. He was young, his skin was light brown, and his hair was blond and shaven close to his head. Finn was standing over him.

“Hi, my name is Finn, we are not going to hurt you. I was once like you, part of the First Order machine. I would have escaped earlier if I had the chance, but I finally found a way out. I am giving you the chance, we can hide you, protect you, give you a new life. We have clothes for you, all you have to do is follow us.”

“I…can’t…I don’t know who you are, you are crazy, the First Order will be looking for me!” 

Finn continued, “Listen I know this is sudden, but if you want to get out, this is your chance, a new, better life, a free life. What is your name?”

“HB-4048, that’s my name.”

“Alright I’m calling you Hob. Are you willing to go with us?”

Hob paused for a long minute and said, “Ok, yes..I guess…yes I will.”

Finn smiled and looked at Rey, and she gave a trepidatious look back. They got him out of his uniform and dressed him in a cloak, and proceeded to casually leave. They traveled down a long stretch of merchants, there were no First Order troopers within sight, and no signs that they were on alert. Finn was trying to talk to the trooper, to make him more comfortable.

Rey paused, “Finn, I’m glad about Hob, but we are here for another reason. I know you don’t believe the Force can inspire you, but I want you to try, try it for me.”

Finn, suddenly giddy with his recent success, was more compliant than he would have been otherwise.

“Ok Rey, I’m not sure about this, but for you, I’ll try.” Finn closed his eyes and tried to focus on his feelings. After a few moments he opened his eyes and said “This way.”

Finn lead them to a well dressed alien creature who was standing behind a merchant table. She appeared to be selling precious jewels and of the race Aki-Aki. She was tall and wearing a yellow cloak. She had protruding eyes and two long tentacles that came down from the front of her face.

As they approached, Gliph spoke. “Hello travelers, would you be interested in some rare Pasaana gold jewelry?”

Rey spoke first. “Thank you, but no, this is going to sound strange, but we are from a different city, we are looking for something, someone, very rare and special.”

Gliph looked deep into Rey’s eyes, “Who is this person, and why do you want to find them?”

“Not one specific person, more about a type of person. We mean no harm to anyone,” said Rey.

Gliph paused before speaking, “No, I believe you will not.“ She outstretched her hands, and bowed. “I am called Gliph.” She raised herself up and brought her arms inward. “I can read your heart.“ She looked left and right. “This talent is very useful in my business, and helps me avoid danger.” She looked back at Rey. “But today, I sense your heart to be pure.”

Rey turned to Finn and Chewie, then back to Gliph and explained who they were looking for.

Gliph looked around to see if anyone else was listening. “I know a slave owner named Lat Poor, who brags his slave can move things with its mind. He will sell for great profit at the annual slave auction on the planet Zygerria, tomorrow. Slave traders come from across the galaxy for this event. I do not know what the slave looks like. Lat Poor is a Kyuzo, he has green skin and a wide green circle hat. He has many credits and his clothes show his Jakku wealth. If you go, you must hurry.”

Rey smiled, looked at the others and back at Gliph. “Thank you very much, you have been a great help, and you are a wonderful person. Is there anything we can do for you?”

Gliph smiled and said, “Keep your heart pure.”

As the group began to depart, Gliph pulled Finn aside and whispered something in his ear.

Finn was taken aback, “Thank you miss Gliph-er, he will be. Thank you again for your help.”


	8. The Auction

# The Auction

Rey, Chewbacca, Finn, Hob and the droids got in their ship and took off towards Zygerria.

“Where are we going?” said Hob.

Finn spoke first, “Hob, I know what you are thinking, you are going to be OK, we just need you to follow us for a while, then we will help you get settled into your new, free life.”

“Are we going to the Resistance base?” said Hob.

“Let’s worry about that later Finn”, said Rey. “For now let’s focus on the auction.”

Finn put his hand on Hob’s shoulder, “Hob will be a great Resistance fighter! Right now we are low in numbers, and if the First Order finds us we’ll run again or die, but we have freedom! You can get a job, maybe help with fighter repairs. And you can date, yes…um, we have cute Resistance girls, I’ll introduce you to a girl named Rose.”

“Finn, I thought you and Rose…um, R2, can you do some research on this auction? How does it work? How do we bid?” said Rey.

Finn interrupted, “I heard about them, from trooper friends who patrolled the auctions. It is not great. If you do not provide the funds after winning, they chop your hand off.”

“Do we have anything of value?” said Rey.

“We have 3 droids, that’s about it”, said Finn.

C-3PO spoke. “I haven’t been with you very long, but I much prefer being with you than becoming a slave protocol droid, thank you very much. Perhaps you can sell this one.” C-3PO motioned towards R2-D2.

“3PO, you can’t sell your best friend because you don’t remember them”, said Finn. 

R2-D2 bumped C-3PO, then he turned and played a video message against the ship wall.

In the message, a figure in white spoke, “General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now, he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret I am unable to present my father’s request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and fear my mission to return with you to Alderaan has failed. I have fed information vital to the survival of all free planets into the memory of systems of this R-2 unit…my father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour … You must help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are my only hope.”

R2-D2 turned his dome slowly to C-3PO.

“Who is this girl? We should help her!” said C-3PO.

Finn said “Was that Leia when she was young? She was beautiful.”

“She still is”, said Rey.

“3PO, I think R2 is trying to jog your memory, I think you’ve probably seen this before” said Finn.

“There is something familiar about it, but I do not recall”.

R2-D2 whirred sadly, again.

****************************

The auction was in progress when Rey, Chewbacca, Finn, and Hob arrived. BB-8 waited in the ship. There were hundreds of people of all races around, about half seemed to be paying close attention to the auction, and others seemed to be enjoying the spectacle, or vendors hawking goods. You could tell who the slave masters were, angry, with the aura of superiority. Some were well dressed, some were disheveled. Sad and helpless looking slaves were being paraded on stage. Rey yearned to help them, but resisted the urge.

“Oh my, what a spectacle!” said C-3PO.

Chewbacca growled and Rey replied. “Yes Chewbacca, I know you were captive like them, and I’d like to send a Star Destroyer crashing into this whole event too. But we have a mission.”

“Chewy is right”, said Finn with a lowered voice, “think you can you wipe out the stage with just the Force?” Finn pushed his hands out in front of him, twice, and raised his eyebrows.

Rey ignored Finn and turned to a scummy looking blue skinned humanoid near her. “Excuse me, have you seen a slave trader with a wide green hat? He is selling someone who has special abilities”. 

The alien replied, “Why should I tell you? Competition? Ne’er, well, the only special abilities I care about is strength, if they have that, don’t outbid me or we will have a problem, yes?” The alien put their hand on their blaster and looked right at Rey.

Rey backed away and told the others, “let’s split up and look for Lat Poor, he has to be here. Finn, you and Hob look together, and 3PO and R2 you are together also. Chewie you can protect me.” Rey and Chewie started filtering through the crowds, there were many, many people around, with all kinds of odd smells Rey had never sensed.

After looking for a few minutes, Chewie let out two quick barks and pointed his head towards the stage. There, at the base of the stage was a man with olive green skin and a wide green domed, metal hat. He had a blaster by his side, and a device in his hand. Rey and Chewie started pushing their way through the crowd towards the stage.

When they reached the man, Rey shouted “Are you Lat Poor?” The man did not hear her, he was focused on the stage. Onto the stage came two children of about the same height, a young human boy with short brown hair and a young Twi’lek girl with light purple skin and two purple headtails protruding from her head. Their wrists were each tied together with solid, thick metal cuffs. They were both squinting from the spotlights upon them.

The auctioneer began to speak, “We have something special for you tonight! Two children, who can move things with their mind!” The crowd let out a faint “oooohhh” in several different languages. The man shouted at the two, “show them!” The boy scowled at the man. The man then pushed a button on the device in his hand and the boy fell to the floor in pain. The boy stood up and glared again. The young girl, looked at the boy, then back at the man. Concern filled her eyes.

She paused, then closed her eyes. The hat on the man’s head began to slowly rise off of his head, until it reached about 1 meter above, then suddenly it shot across the stage and smacked the auctioneer in the face. The auctioneer recoiled and fell onto his hands and knees. The two children looked at each other and burst out laughing, then moved close together and continued whispering, pointing and giggling.

The auctioneer rose and recovered. “Well, as you can see they should fetch quite a price. Place your bids now.”

There were three stations in the audience where bidders placed their bids. A rounded metal box was attached to a tall pole. The metal box had a keypad and an opening to place a hand or other appendage. A short man of the Duros species, with large eyes, turquoise skin and a wide brimmed hat approached one of the stations. He placed his right hand in the metal box as it appeared to scan it. He then typed with the other hand. The bid appeared on a screen above the stage, “10,000 credits”.

Rey looked at Chewie, “Chewie, we need to find the others!”. They started scrambling through the crowd looking for Finn and Hob.

“12,000 credits”

“17,000 credits”

“20,000 credits”

“23,000 credits”

Chewie spotted Finn from across the auction. He tried to roar but Rey could not hear him. So he picked up Rey, bear hugged her, and physically turned her around so she could see Finn in the distance, then set her down. 

Rey turned around and softly said “Thanks.”

They ran off to reach Finn.

“27,000 credits”

“We have to bid on the kids! What can we bid?” said Rey loudly in the crowd.

“I don’t know! We don’t have anything!” said Finn. 

“32,000 credits”

Rey pulled out the communicator in her pocket and shouted, “3PO! How much is the Falcon worth?” C-3PO replied “Our ship? Why would we want to sell our ship? We can’t stay here!” R2-D2 started beeping and rocking back and forth. C-3PO looked at R2 and said “90,000 credits? According to my records a ship like this sells for 60,000 credits. Inflation you say? What is the…”

“36,000 credits”

“43,000 credits”

“Thanks 3PO” Rey said quickly and turned off her communicator. They ran off to the nearest bidding station.

“Where is Hob?!!” said Rey.

“I don’t know, I lost him in the crowd!” said Finn. “You bid, I’m going to keep looking for him!”

Rey arrived at a bidding station, and paused to catch her breath. She looked out at the next closest station, as a female figure in all black with a black helmet approached and placed a bid.

“80,000 credits”

The crowd gasped at the large jump in price. Lat Poor cracked a smile from a distance.

The figure in black turned to look at the new competition and planted her staff-like weapon in the ground. Rey looked around, looked confused at the bidding station and stuck her hand in the box.

“90,000 credits”

The figure in black turned to face Rey again. She had a helmet on, but the crowd could sense the glare under the mask. Another figure in black standing next to her with a dark cloak started shouting to her, mostly drowned out by the crowd, waiving his hands up and down in what appeared to be angry motions.

Sosh Ren turned away from Garmoth Ren and approached the station again.

“100,000 credits”

Finn ran back to see what was going on, Hob was not with him. “What’s going on, are you selling the ship? What is it worth?”

Rey didn’t respond.

“Rey, we can’t get stuck in this horrible place”, said Finn.

“I’m busy!” said Rey.

Rey, this time ignoring Sosh, looked at the bidding board and bid 110,000.

“Rey! We don’t have that money! What are you doing!” said Finn. Chewie let out a roar.

Sosh Ren looked at Rey. She paused, and turned around. Garmoth appeared to be shouting at her. Baldaar Ren was behind them, and just stood there. Sosh turned around and looked at Rey.

“120,000 credits”

“Rey…we have to stop” whispered Finn, “we have to stop”.

Rey paused, and backed away from the station.

“120,000 credits wins!” said the auctioneer.

Sosh Ren punched some keys on her terminal and walked towards the stage to collect the kids. Rey’s eyes followed her the entire way.

“Finn, it’s important to obey local laws and customs right?”

“I think it’s time to break them.”


	9. The Slaves

# The Slaves

“Follow me” Rey said to Chewbacca and Finn nearby.

“Uh oh, Chewie” said Finn. “This could get ugly. We better protect her.” Chewie gave a quick roar in confirmation.

Rey’s focus turned to Sosh Ren as she collected the children from the stage and walked to the south away from the auction. Baldaar and Garmoth were slowly following. Rey started pushing and bumping her way across the crowds towards Sosh and the kids. 

The three Knights of Ren made their way away from the crowd, to three land speeders parked on the outskirts. Rey shouted out, “Hey you! I want to talk to you!”

Sosh Ren paused, looked at Rey approaching, and picked up the kids and placed them in a speeder. She then slowly turned to Rey. Baldaar and Garmoth backed away a few meters.

Rey caught up to Sosh. “You know, you may have won the auction, but it’s still evil to enslave kids.“

Sosh Ren straightened up. “Who are you? I won these kids fair and legal, you LOST. Go bid on some others, or I’ll cut you down and feed your remains to the kids.”

Rey brought out her lightsaber and ignited it. “Yeah well, I don’t think so.”

Sosh Ren looked at the other Knights. “A Jedi? Well, you don’t see many of them around anymore.”

Garmoth Ren stepped forward a pace. “No, you do not. So, who trained you?”

“She was trained by Luke Skywalker, the one and only” said Finn.

Garmoth snickered just a bit. “Yes, well, so were we.” With that, the three Knights drew their weapons in unison, and Sosh ignited her staff.

The Knights slowly moved to encircle Rey, Finn and Chewbacca with their weapons drawn.

The brown haired boy and the Twi’lek girl were still in the cockpit of the land speeder, rapt with attention.

“Ooooh, I wonder who’s going to win!” said the boy.

“They are fighting over us, like we are prince and princesses. They must want to marrrrry us!” said the purple skinned girl. They both burst out laughing.

Rey and Sosh turned, a little stunned by the kids. But the scythe of Garmoth Ren swung down upon Rey. Rey turned her lightsaber to block. The saber did not penetrate or break what appeared to be wood and metal.

Finn and Chewbacca started to back up and shoot with their blasters. They focused their shots at Baldaar, who easily blocked their shots with his axe.

Sosh Ren brought her staff in a swinging motion up to Rey. Rey kicked away from Garmoth and blocked the staff, very close to the hilt of her saber.

Baldaar pointed his hand forward and pulled Finn’s blaster away from him using the Force. Chewbacca saw what was happening and tried to shoot Baldaar while he was concentrating. Baldaar took the shot to his chest, and the blaster dropped at his feet, but he recovered from the shot, apparently wearing some kind of armour.

Sosh and Garmoth continued their attacks on Rey, striking in unison from both sides. Rey was continually blocking and backing up, making no progress.

Baldaar moved towards Chewbacca, ignoring the blaster at his feet, and blocking each shot of Chewbacca’s. He raised his axe down upon Chewbacca, who blocked the axe with his large rifle.

Finn backed away, unsure what to do, and scared for Rey’s safety. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw the land speeder take off, and the brown haired boy yelled “bye bye wooooo!!!”

Finn straightened up, and spoke “Um, hey, the kids…are leaving!”. The fighting continued. Finn yelled this time. “THE KIDS ARE GONE!” The Knights and Rey stopped fighting and looked around. The kid’s speeder was gone.

“Now look what you’ve done! Baldaar come with me!” said Sosh. Baldaar ran and caught up to Sosh and jumped in her speeder. 

Rey ran to another speeder first, and Chewie followed. Garmoth approached but Chewie gave a loud, large growl at Garmoth. Garmoth backed away.

“Ok I’ll just wait here….thanks” said Finn. There were no more speeders nearby.

The kid’s speeder erratically zoomed left and right, bumping into mounds and bushes. “Whoooohooo” said the boy.

Sosh and Baldaar’s speeder began to approach behind the kid’s speeder, with Rey and Chewbacca behind them. The girl saw who was following and looked around. She picked up a metal tool from inside the speeder and threw it at the speeder behind. Sosh maneuvered the speeder to avoid it. The second object was a small wooden box of something. It clanked off the front of the speeder and caused it to jerk off its path for a few seconds. “Take that!” said the girl with a smile.

Off in the distance, a ‘BOOOOM’ was heard. A giant explosion came from the stage of the auction. The hundreds of people nearby scattered in chaos as stormtroopers approached. A small First Order ship was descending to land near the stage. Kylo Ren was walking out of it’s loading ramp and surveying the scene.

Finn, alone, looked around and decided to run towards the Falcon.

The kids, still driving erratically, bumped away from a cement type hut and careened towards the auction area. Their speeder bounced and swerved and hit an R5 type droid and rested at a tree on the far edge of where the crowd was gathered a few minutes ago. Two troopers approached and ordered the kids to get out of the speeder. In the distance Rey and Sosh saw the kids near the troopers, and stopped their speeders a distance away. They then saw one of the kids twiddle their fingers, which appeared to bring more attention to them by the troopers. The troopers dragged the kids to Kylo Ren who pointed to his ship. The kids were loaded onto Kylo’s ship.

“I want any members of the Resistance caught and brought to my ship!” said the Supreme Leader.

The troopers continued arresting everyone they could catch, giving them a quick, threatening interview and attempt at identification, but releasing most.

Kylo Ren, with his black helmet on, went back inside his ship to seek out the kids. “So, my troopers tell me you are Force sensitive! Very interesting.“

The kids said nothing.

Kylo took off his helmet. “What are your names? Who trained you in the Force?” 

The boy pointed to the mole on Kylo’s cheek. “You have a booger, right there!” Both kids burst out laughing.

Kylo reached for his cheek, then gave an angry scowl, “We will see what you can do for the First Order.”

Kylo turned his back on the kids and reached for his communicator. “What is the status, lieutenant? Have we found the Resistance yet?”

As Kylo Ren yelled at his lieutenant, the boy looked at the girl and smiled. He spotted a small magnifying scope lying in the ship and twiddled his fingers and sent it out of the ship. Then he did the same with a small blaster. The girl, not wanting to be outdone, spotted a lump in a pouch at Kylo’s side. The Supreme Leader did not notice the object slowly floating away from him and out of the ship. The kids giggled when Kylo Ren left the ship, unaware of what had just left his possession.

********************

Rey, Chewbacca and Sosh, both a safe distance away, got out of their speeders. Sosh charged Rey. “You did this! You lost my kids! They were MINE!” Sosh pulled out her staff and swung to strike Rey.

Chewbacca, attempting to protect Rey, bear hugged Sosh from behind and ripped her momentum away from Rey. Sosh, feeling the threat, kicked off from Chewbacca’s knees and swung up over his head and came down behind him. When she landed, she saw that her staff was lodged in Chewbacca’s waist. It had impaled him through.

Chewbacca fell to the ground, Sosh pulled out her weapon and stepped back, in shock. Rey ran to Chewbacca and Sosh stepped back even more.

“No, Chewie!...No!.....Hold on!” said Rey as she hunched over him.

“Chewie, you didn’t need to save me…you didn’t need to save me!” yelled Rey. Chewbacca gave a quiet roar.

Chewie was slowing in his movements. Chewbacca gave a quieter roar.

“You are the best protector a Jedi could ever have.” 

Chewbacca raised his huge, hairy arm to Rey’s face and touched the right side for a moment. Then his arm dropped and his breathing stopped. 

“NOOO!” Rey shouted and dropped her head to the ground.

Rey turned her head to look for Sosh. “YOU!” Suddenly lightning burst out of her fingers and caused the speeder next to Sosh to explode. Sosh sprinted to Baldaar’s nearby speeder and jumped in. They sped away while Rey was still in shock as to what had just happened.

Rey turned back to Chewbacca and just sobbed as the Falcon landed near her.


	10. Connection

# Connection

The Falcon rendezvoused with the Resistance fleet. In the primary cruiser, Rey found a secluded corner of the ship to be alone. She did not want to be around all the somber people on the ship, reminding her of her failures every moment.

“How could I have let Chewbacca die? How could I lose the kids? If I was powerful enough, this would not have happened” Rey thought to herself. “Every mission now I am losing someone…what am I doing?” She sat down with her knees at her chest and just cried.

Leia knew of Rey’s pain and looked and looked around the ship for Rey. After a lengthy search, she found her, all alone.

“Hi Rey. I see you found my secret spot to be alone.” said Leia in a soft tone. Leia sat down next to Rey and put her arm around her. Rey didn’t say anything, she just softly continued sobbing.

“Just let it out, Rey”. Rey curled up in Leia’s chest.

After a few minutes. Leia looked at Rey in the eyes. “Rey, this is not your fault. It is the fault of the woman who struck Chewie. It was her decision, not yours. You should only feel guilty if you chose to harm Chewie. Losses happen to everyone, even my brother, the Jedi Master, as you know.”

“Let’s get something to eat, c’mon” said Leia. “Take a break today, we can train tomorrow.” Rey and Leia left the room.

R2-D2 and C-3PO wandered over to Rey and Leia. R2 started beeping and whirring.

“What is it R2?” said Rey.

R2-D2 pulled out an oval rock from his storage compartment. C-3PO spoke up. “He found this…” C-3PO’s head started smoking, he lowered it and his speech stopped.

“3-PO…what’s wrong, what’s the matter, are you OK?” said Rey.

After several seconds C-3PO started speaking again. “I am sorry, my motivator chip is malfunctioning. After the accident, this happens to me sometimes.”

“3PO, have you visited the technicians?” said Leia. 

“I will, General. I am sorry I have not visited them sooner, I have been negligent in my maintenance. As I was saying…this droid picked up an interesting rock at the auction. I saw it fall from the ramp of Kylo Ren’s ship.”

R2-D2 handed the rock to Rey. Rey touched the rock and felt something strong. “This rock contains Force energy!”

“According to my databanks, this may be a ‘Force Holocron’. I wonder why it was in Kylo’s ship?“

Leia said in astonishment, “Do you sense something?”

Rey touched it again and tried to concentrate for several seconds. “No, I see nothing, I guess I’m not worthy!” and slammed the rock down on the table. After a moment Rey looked up and smirked. “You know what? Now I know how Luke could become so grumpy. I’m sorry.”

Finn found Rey sitting with Leia. “Hey Rey, how are you doing?” said Finn. 

“I have been better but I am OK” said Rey. “Did you ever find Hob? You know I think maybe he wasn’t as converted as you think. He probably told the First Order we were there.”

“I can’t believe that. He was just like me, he knew the First Order was evil, someone must have captured him and forced him for information” said Finn.

“If he wanted to be with us, he would have come looking for us.” said Rey. 

“You know, miss Gliph whispered something to me as we left her, but I didn’t want to hear it. She sensed his heart wasn’t right. I thought I could change him. I guess I was wrong.” Finn’s gaze dropped a little towards the ground.

“Not everybody is ready to change for the good, change is uncomfortable. Which makes you special Finn. You were the braver one.” said Leia.

*******************

C-3PO walked over to the droid technicians. “Excuse me sir, my motivator chip is malfunctioning again. It has been overheating and short circuiting. Can you look at it?”

“Sure 3PO I will, but we don’t have an extra chip anywhere on the ship. We will look for one but until then I can’t help you.”

“Oh my, well I may not be of much good to anyone. I hope I you can find one soon”, said C-3PO.

*******************

Rose approached Rey very excited. Her hands were behind her back. “Oooooh Rey, I have something good for you! One of Poe’s old contacts found me more kyber crystals!”

“OK…but I already have a lightsaber Rose.” said Rey.

“Yes, well, I was reading your Jedi texts and I made you a better one! You know how you like staffs right?” Rose brought a long saber shaft out from behind her back. “Here!”

Rey took the saber from Rose, it had a shaft over twice as long as her old lightsaber. It had two openings on each end. She flicked the trigger. Out came two off-white/tan beams of light from each end. It was a double bladed light saber. Rey’s eyes got bigger, and smiled.

“Rose, I think I love you” said Rey. Rose giggled and jumped up a little. Rose looked at Finn and he looked away initially, then seemed to realize his appearance and brought his gaze back.

“Leia, maybe we should do some training today?”.

********************

The following night, Rey was about to lay down to fall asleep for the night. From behind her she heard a familiar voice, “Hello Rey.” She turned to see Kylo Ren/Ben Solo standing behind her.

“Oh, it’s you.” said Rey. “So how is your evil empire going? How many people did you murder before lunch today?”

“They all deserved it” said the image of Kylo Ren. It appears even after I killed Snoke, we still have this connection. Interesting.”

“I believe I have something of yours. Two…children.”

“You have the kids? Where are they! If you hurt them…” said Rey.

“They will serve me well. I will train them in the ways of the Force. Two little Sith to do my bidding.” said Kylo Ren.

Rey gave a death stare at Kylo. “Hey I might have something of yours.” She reached to grab a pouch at the end of her bed. “Does this look familiar?” She showed him the Force holocron, but did not touch it.

“You have my holocron?” said Kylo. “Even more interesting. I propose an exchange. These annoying kids listen less than General Hux. I want my holocron back. The day after tomorrow at sunset, meet me at the ancient cave on Mustafar. You will find me there. Come alone.”

“I don’t know where that is” said Rey

“It’s below my grandfather’s castle. You will find me. Bring the holocron. No surprises.”

“Fine.” said Rey.

“Fine.” said Kylo.

And Kylo Ren disappeared.


	11. The Cave

# The Cave

Rey thought for a moment about meeting Kylo and decided to inform Leia.

“Leia, your son contacted me through our Force bond. He wants to exchange the kids for the holocron. He wants to meet in a cave on Mustafar, alone. Do you think it could be a trap?”

Leia thought for a moment. “Ben has much of the dark side in him, but I don’t think it’s like him to use obvious tricks to trap you. I do not know for sure of course, we should be cautious, but I think it’s OK for you to meet him, **mostly** alone.”

“Mostly alone?” said Rey.

“Perhaps you should bring Poe. He is our best pilot if you need to escape quickly. We’ll also have a ship orbiting the planet as a backup.”

Poe was nearby. Leia motioned Poe to come join the conversation and filled him in on the details.

"I’m happy to join the mission, but this could be our chance to get Kylo,” said Poe. “Why don’t we trap him instead?!” 

“I know we should jump at the chance to capture him, but I somehow I don’t feel we should betray him this time, this way,” said Rey, “and there might be First Order backup nearby, just like us.”

“Alright so you want to play this safe, huh, I still think if we want to win this war, we have to take bold chances,” said Poe.

“Yes, but a higher priority is to listen to the Force,” said Leia, “is that what you feel Rey?”

“Yes, I think so.”

Leia spoke. “Alright it’s a plan then. This is risky but we should try to rescue those kids from being used as a powerful tool of evil for a lifetime.

“May the Force be with you.”

Rey gave Leia a hug and looked her in the eye. “May the Force be with you too.”

******************************************************

Inside the cave, Kylo Ren was sitting on a rock, waiting for Rey. The kids were sitting in a corner, with stun cuffs on their wrists. There was no natural light to see, the only light was a small lantern-like object which Kylo had brought.

Temiri Blagg, the small boy, spoke up. “Are you one of those Sith people? Luke Skywalker used to chop them up so easy, chop them up and put them in soup!” Temiri and the girl, Haita, looked at each other and giggled.

“Luke Skywalker is dead, he won’t be coming to save you,” said Kylo Ren.

Haita said “How did you get that scar? Did Luke slash your face?” 

“Shut up kids.”

Temiri said “Do all Sith have ugly scars? Are all Sith ugly? Snoke was ugly. Are you gonna be ugly like him?” The two giggled again.

“If you do not shut up, I will give you a scar.”

“Are you going to train us to be Sith like you? I heard you have to eat the hairs of a Kinor bat and the toes of a Gundark to join the Sith,” said Haita.

“EEEEwwwwww!” the kids both said in unison.

“I think he’s angry all the time because the Sithy food is gross,” said Temiri and they both giggled again.

“Maybe no girl will kiss him!” said Haita.

Kylo stood up in anger and ignited his lightsaber. “If you do not stay quiet, I will put this saber through your mouth!” He stayed angry for a few seconds, then gave up, turned off his saber and sat back down. “Eh, I’ll be rid of you soon enough.”

“All my masters have been angry all the time, it seems the more master you get, the angrier you get.” said Haita.

“Quiet!” Kylo whispered, and he tried to listen intently. There was a sound coming from the cave opening. He walked towards the sound, away from the kids.

The crunching sound of footsteps on the cave floor could be heard approaching. Kylo could barely see a figure in the distance. 

“Where are the kids?” demanded the figure in the distance. Then two off-white beams ignited in the distance. It was Rey with her double-bladed lightsaber.

“Did you come alone?” said Kylo Ren.

“Do you see anybody with me?” said Rey.

“I see you have a new lightsaber. How. cute.” said Kylo Ren sarcastically.

“Are the kids here?” said Rey again.

Kylo ignited his saber. “Oh they are behind me, annoying as ever. Kids! Step into the light! Do you have the stone?” Rey could see the silhouette of two small humans.

“Why do you want it? What does it do? Are you going to use it to hurt people?” said Rey.

Kylo sneered. “It’s my business.”

“I have it here, answer my question, what are you going to do with it?” and Rey pointed to the pouch at her side.

“I don’t have time for this, maybe I’ll just take it,” and Kylo took two swings of his saber at Rey. Rey blocked both and they started slowly circling each other.

Rey took a swipe at Kylo with her saber. “Are you happy now Supreme Leader? You are on top of the First Order and probably still miserable.”

Kylo took three swipes at Rey, she blocked two with the top half of her saber, and one with the bottom half. “My mood doesn’t matter. You could have lead the galaxy with me!” They continued to circle each other.

Rey took two swings at Kylo, paused and Kylo struck back twice. “You could have saved lives instead of taking them! Instead you chose hate again.”

The two swung and parried for 15 seconds. 

“I have the galaxy in my hand, and you have nothing now,” said Kylo.

Two more swings.

“There is no happiness in the dark side” said Rey, “you know that, don’t you.”

“You have no idea what you missed,” said Kylo.

Rey shouted, “I would have taken your hand--Ben’s hand!” then her tone dropped. “But not Kylo, not Kylo Ren.”

Kylo lowered his saber and stepped back. The anger in his face, illuminated only by two light sabers and a lantern, softened.

“Hand over the holocron and I’ll consider releasing them!” said Kylo, regaining his threatening tone.

Behind the kids in the back of the cave, Poe waved his arms at the kids to get their attention. Poe signaled to them to stay quiet, and waved for them to come to him. The kids looked at each other, back at Kylo and Rey, then back at Poe. 

“Alright fine, we both put down our weapons first,” said Rey.

Both Kylo and Rey slowly lowered their sabers until they reached the ground. They remained lit. Both slowly stepped forward without them. With her left hand, Rey reached across her body and pulled out her pouch with the stone inside. Slowly her hand cautiously moved towards his, until they both touched the holocron at the same time.

As they touched the holocron, they both saw scattered images, visions of the past, and the future. It stunned them for a moment until they were able to understand what they were seeing. They both saw Rey’s parents abandoning Rey. They saw the First Order surrender. They saw Leia die, and Kylo Ren dying, and Rey dying. They saw Anakin’s goodness, his love of Padme, his betrayal of Mace Windu, and his killing younglings. They saw Darth Vader’s intense pain and regret. They saw Anakin’s deathbed repentance. They saw Ben and Rey, their faces smiling and close, embracing. They saw the Resistance fall, and all Resistance fighters massacred. 

Both Kylo and Rey stepped back and the stone dropped. Kylo kneeled on the ground, trying to recover from what he saw. Rey recovered faster and had her lit saber in her hand.

“Did you see what I saw? My grandfather. Younglings.” said Kylo, still on his knees.

“Yes…I did. And…other things…” said Rey.

“You, me, my mother, we all died. But we were together and happy. But we weren’t. I…I am confused,” said Kylo.

Something buzzed on Rey’s belt three times in a row. “I don’t know what we saw. I’m as confused as you. I hope I don’t regret this, but I’m going to walk away.”

Rey retreated back, still facing an unarmed Kylo. “Goodbye, Ben.” She then turned and briskly ran out of the cave.

Kylo slowly rose to his feet. He looked at the holocron on the ground for a long while.

Then from behind him he heard a familiar voice again. “Hey kid.”

It was Luke Skywalker.

Kylo looked at him but said nothing. Luke spoke first. “You probably want to know what those visions were about.”

“In the visions I die, in these clothes. Is this going to happen no matter what?”

“Force visions can show multiple possible outcomes of your future. I do not know which of what you saw will come true, if any of it.”

“I saw my grandfather, I saw what he did.”

“Yes, like you, he made some terrible choices. But he changed. You still have good in you Ben, don’t wait until your deathbed like your grandfather.”

“See ya around, kid.”

And Luke Skywalker disappeared.


	12. Attack

# Attack

Leia found Rey practicing her Jedi training alone. She was practicing punching and kicking, unusually violently. She was out of breath but kept going. Leia approached and stood in the corner of the room.

Rey saw Leia come in the room and ignored her for a minute. “Leia, I saw a vision of the Resistance dying, everybody was massacred, I won’t let that happen! There has to be some way to stop this. What about the Force are you not telling me!?!”

“Rey, there is nothing the dark…”

“I don’t believe you, there has to be a reason why the dark side keeps winning. I need to become more powerful, it’s the only way to save everybody!”

“Rey, there is nothing the dark side can do which the light side cannot,” said Leia softly. 

“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU.” said Rey, nearly shouting and looking Leia right in the eyes.

“Rey, you need to stop this. This is how my son turned into the monster he is now. Follow the training, follow the Force, do your best and we will win,” said Leia with a raised voice.

Leia continued “For now, the kids need you. Go talk to them. I hear you didn’t say a word to them the whole trip back.”

Rey’s shoulders dropped and the anger in her demeanor started to dissipate. 

Rey found the kids in a room nearby. “Hello kids, I am Rey, sorry I was not talkative before.”

“Are you a Jedi?” said Haita.

“Yes I am. You are free now. We are not masters over you.”

The two kids looked at each other and smiled. “We have been slaves for so long,” said Temiri.

Temiri said “The last man was really mean, he was going to make us eat gross Sith food. What are we going to do now? Do you know Luke Skywalker? Are you going to train us as Jedi? Who is going to take care of us? Can we eat anything we want? I think the dark man likes you…” 

“Whoa slow down kids, what are your names?” said Rey.

“I am Temiri. I lived on Canto Bight in the stables for the races. I don’t know my real parents. Lat Poor bought me and Haita and then sold us.”

“I am Haita, I lived on Ryloth until my parents were killed and I was sold to Lat Poor”. 

Rey said “I am sorry, your lives must have been hard. I know a little something about that. I was abandoned by my parents when I was younger than you.”

“Sometimes when we were with Lat Poor we would float Juna worms into his soup and he would eat them,” said Haita. The kids looked at each other and smiled.

“When I was in the stables once I told a fathier to kick my master in the butt,” said Temiri, and the kids giggled again.

Rose Tico came into the room. Temiri looked at her and his face lit up. “I remember you! You are from the Resistance!”

Rose’s mouth opened in astonishment. “Yyyeees, that was me, HI! Yes we are the Resistance, and we are going to win!” 

“And I was trained by Luke Skywalker, I hope to teach you the ways of the Force, but with kindness instead of fear,” said Rey.

The kids looked at each other and smiled.

Rose said “Is it OK if I take the kids on a tour of the ship?”

“Sure Rose, that would be great,” said Rey.

“Hold on, Rose, I have an idea,” said Rey.

Rey left the room and came back with something behind her back. 

“Who of you is oldest?” said Rey.

“I am!” said Temiri.

“Well, this was Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber. I have a new one and don’t need it anymore. I’d like to give it to you, Temiri.”

“Whooooowwww” said Temiri and looked in awe at the weapon.

“Haita I’ll get you one next.”

Temiri ignited the blade and swung it around back and forth, up and down, rapidly. The blade broke through a light fixture in the room and pieces of it shattered everywhere.

“Ooops, sorry” said Temiri.

“That is a dangerous weapon, do not ignite it until we have trained, or I will take it away, got it?”

“Yes, sorry Rey.”

“Alright, Rose?”

“C’mon kids, let’s go!” said Rose. And they left the room.

*****************************************************

Supreme Leader Kylo Ren sat quietly pondering in his sparsely decorated quarters, alone, staring at the wall. He repeated the visions over and over in his mind. There was nobody to consult with about what they meant.

A message appeared on the terminal in his room. General Hux’s image appeared. “The fleet is in position, and the Council of First Order leaders are waiting, you are late.”

“I heard you.” said Kylo Ren.

****************************************************

Kinder Blat, a Resistance communications specialist, approached Leia and Poe. “Leia, Poe, our spies have indicated the First Order leadership is about to gather in one ship near the small twin planets of Gralh and Grath.”

Poe’s eyes widened, “Leia this might be our chance to take down the First Order in one battle. If we strike hard and fast on their lead ship we could end them. Without leadership there would be chaos and other systems would probably rally against the remnants of their troops. What do you think?”

Leia paused to think. “My son may be killed.”

Poe’s tone softened. “Yes, he might.”

Leia paused to think some more. “…Thousands of planets are counting on us to rid the galaxy of the First Order. Are we sure the intel is correct?”

Kinder Blat replied, “General, the last three batches of First Order intel from these spies have been correct. I believe this intel to be accurate.”

Leia sighed. “Can we send a scout ship to investigate?”

Poe replied, “Yes that is a good idea.” I will get on it. Poe left.

Leia turned to an assistant next to her. “Please fetch Rose Tico for me.”

When Rose arrived, Leia said “Rose, we are about to attack the First Order. I have a mission for you, I need you to do something for me if we succeed.”

A few minutes later, Poe returned. “General, we have got a message from a friendly nearby merchant ship, there is a First Order gathering near the twin planets.”

“Then we should attack. Poe, make the preparations.” said Leia.

When preparations were made, General Leia Organa gathered around the Resistance fighters nearby and opened a channel to talk to the other ships nearby. “We have an urgent, but great opportunity to strike a fatal blow on the First Order. We have discovered the First Order leadership has gathered in one ship near the planets Gralh and Grath. We are going to attack the lead ship and hopefully destroy their leadership, launching them into chaos. They are going to launch every counter against us. This is very risky and there may be losses, …including my son.”

“I am counting on you to accomplish this mission. Will you join us and do this?”

The crowd gathered hesitated, but several shouts of “yes!” were heard. 

“Thank you for your bravery and sacrifice. Make the Force be with us.”

The Resistance fleet moved to light speed, when they came out of light speed they saw a larger, huge Star Destroyer, flanked by two regular-sized Star Destroyers on each side, between the two small planets.

Poe Dameron was in the lead X-wing, flanked by about 30 X-wings, bombers, Y-wings, etc… and 3 capital ships. Leia’s ship held back to observer and coordinate the attack.

“Alright team, on this mission we focus all fire on the main ship, we ignore everything else. As long as we can handle the heat, we need to focus our attack on that ship until it’s destroyed. The C and D groups will take on the tie fighters that will be launched while everybody else focus on blowing up that ship.”

The Resistance fleet moved towards the two Star Destroyers and started bombing the larger Dreadnought.

“No tie fighters yet, either they are not prepared or something is wrong.” said Poe.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Leia.

Suddenly a white wave of energy emerged from each planet, cris-crossing and converging on all the ships in the area.

“What was that?!??” said Poe. “My engines are down, my instruments are down, I’m dead in the water, can anybody hear me?”

Nobody replied.

Poe looked out through his window, other Resistance ships seemed to be floating, helplessly.

Rey was with Leia, yelled into the microphone, “Poe, anybody, can anybody hear us??!? What happened?”

“It was a trap!” said Leia. “That must have been an EMP blast. They knew we were coming. Our ship was outside the blast area, but the rest of the fleet may have no power or oxygen!”

Poe yelled out, “Hello, can anybody hear me? Anybody?” But no lights flickered in his X-wing, nothing electronic worked. Poe looked out his window, “This is not good, we are sitting ducks.” He reached back behind his seat and pulled out an oxygen mask, and a pillow shaped object which glowed red with heat when Poe twisted it. “Interesting, the Star Destroyers are not moving either.”

Suddenly a Super Star Destroyer flanked by two regular sized Star Destroyers came out of hyper space.

*********************************************

General Hux was standing up in a large meeting room with twelve of the senior leaders of the First Order circled around a table as they watched on a large monitor.

“You have been invited here to witness the end of the Resistance. As you can see our new weapon has neutralized the Resistance fleet, they are now floating helplessly in space.”

“Very good General Hux,” said Supreme Leader Kylo Ren. “This day will long be remembered in history.”

“Yes, it will. Now if you will follow me to the hangar, we will watch as the ships take off to clean up the mess,” said General Hux.

The twelve plus General Hux and Kylo Ren walked into the hangar. They watched as all troops in the hangar boarded tie fighters in the hangar and took off.

Three ships remained. Fourteen troopers from one ship exited a ship, and fourteen from another. Most troopers lined up near Kylo Ren, except two which lined up near the twelve. Others stood near heavy guns on tripods. Some stood near exits.

Then six figures clothed in black exited the third ship. Garmoth Ren approached Kylo Ren and said, “Hey buddy,” in a sarcastic tone.

At that moment, all troopers fired on the Supreme Leader. Kylo Ren ignited his saber, blocked as many shots as he could, and backed up behind some storage containers. Two troopers lead the twelve First Order leaders to a corner and guarded them. General Hux stood in a corner and smirked.


	13. Call for Help

# Call for Help

General Leia Organa’s cruiser remained motionless. They watched as about sixteen tie fighters exited the Star Destroyers. They approached the stranded X-wings and bombers of the Resistance floating in space. Suddenly two fighters fired upon a bomber and Leia saw it explode into thousands of pieces. 

“Oh no.” said Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix. “They are picking off our ships one by one!”

Another bomber exploded.

“What are we going to do? We can’t take on all those ships!” said Finn.

An X-wing exploded.

“Leia, we can’t hide and wait for our fleet to be destroyed,” said Rey.

Another X-wing exploded.

“Let’s distract them,” said Leia. “Full speed ahead and start firing on the tie fighters.”

The cruiser suddenly started firing on the fighters. It appears this surprised them as the cruiser easily destroyed two tie fighters. Suddenly all fighters changed direction and started attacking the cruiser.

“We won’t last long against all these ships,” said Lieutenant Connix.

“We’ll last as long as we can. Prepare to jump to light speed when I say so,” said Leia.

*********************************

Garmoth Ren watched as twenty six troopers fired on Kylo Ren. Kylo was shielded behind shipping containers. Garmoth and the other Knights walked up to Kylo and signaled for the troopers to stop firing.

“Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, trapped like a mouse in a corner,” said Garmoth. Kylo said nothing. The six Knights circled Kylo. “Oh how the mighty have fallen, or should I say how the egotistical have fallen.”

Garmoth swung his scythe at Kylo. Kylo blocked. Garmoth swung, three swipes. Kylo blocked and backed up.

“We were your friends, we followed you after you left Luke Skywalker, we became outlaws and outcasts for you.”

Garmoth and Baldaar Ren took two swipes at Kylo in unison.

“We became the mighty Knights of Ren, then our fearless leader abandons us like we are nothing,” Garmoth continued.

“He’s loyalty like a meekrat,” said Baldaar.

“Yes, a rat is a fitting description,” said Garmoth.

“I didn’t ask you to follow me,” said Kylo.

“And he used us for his own selfish pleasure,” said Sosh Ren.

“I saw an opportunity and took it. You would have done the same,” said Kylo.

*********************************************

“Our shields are down to 65%!” Lieutenant Connix. 

“Keep firing and moving,” said Leia. “And if we can, bring some of our ships in with a tractor beam.”

Another tie fighter was destroyed, then another.

“Shields down to 58%!”

“I’ve got an X-wing locked, pulling in,” said an assistant.

The cruiser kept firing.

A tie fighter struck the X-wing being pulled in. “Ugh we lost the lock!”

“Shields down to 52%”

The cruiser kept firing.

“We got another lock, keep them distracted!”

“We got the X-wing in the bay!”

“Keep it up, let’s get as many as we can,” said Leia.

“It appears the First Order is doing the same thing, our ships are moving towards the Star Destroyers,” said Rey.

“Shoot, grab and run!” said Finn.

*********************************************

“So the rat is trapped in the corner, what shall we do with him?” said Garmoth.

Garmoth, Baldaar and Sosh struck in unison. Kylo tried to block but his lightsaber was knocked out of his hands. 

Garmoth Ren picked up Kylo’s saber and put it in his dark overcoat. 

“The Supreme Leader is no supreme!” said Baldaar.

“I’ve been looking for one of these myself since Luke,” said Garmoth.

*********************************************

“We’ve grabbed six of our ships and our shields are down to 10%,” said Lieutenant Connix.

“We’ve destroyed a lot of tie fighters,” said Finn.

“Wait until we are down to 5% and jump to light speed,” said Leia.

“Our other ships will be captured or destroyed,” said Finn.

“We can’t do any more than this, we have to leave,” said Leia.

“We got one more ship, down to 6%, get ready to jump!” said Lieutenant Connix.

The cruiser jumped to light speed.

“What do we do now?” said Finn.

“I don’t know. Let’s repair. And pray.”

“And can someone get a message to Rose?” said Leia.

***************************************

Kylo Ren was cuffed with his hands and feet and sitting in a corner, without his lightsaber. Baldaar Ren, the three other Knights, and six troopers stood guard.

General Hux walked over. “Very good, Knights, you are worth every single credit.” Garmoth and Sosh stood near General Hux.

General Hux turned to the twelve leaders of the First Order. “The Resistance has fallen. And you now see our corrupt, selfish leader has also fallen. I am your Supreme Leader now! You WILL follow me!” 

The twelve leaders bowed their heads. General Hux smirked and raised his chin.

****************************************

Rey left the helm of the cruiser to be alone. She stared out into space, she felt completely overwhelmed and powerless to help.

“Rey, I need you.”

Rey looked around, nobody was talking to her.

“Rey, I need you.”

It was the voice of Ben Solo. She then saw him sitting down, cuffed against a wall.

“What? You need me?” said Rey.

“I’m in trouble. The First Order has turned on me. I need your help,” said Ben Solo.

“Wha….how….uh…I don’t know. We are in trouble ourselves,” said Rey.

“And why should I help you? The end of your evil reign is a good thing!”

“Rey…please.”

And the image of Ben Solo disappeared.

Rey stopped for a moment to ponder. All she had to do is nothing, and the First Order might end, and thousands of planets would be freed! But at the same time, she somehow felt compassion for Ben Solo.

Rey walked over to Leia. “Leia, I just got a message from Ben. He’s in trouble. He…wants…he needs our help.”

“Oh. my. Yes I see the dilemma on your face. I feel it too,” said Leia.

“What should I do? We could save a lot of people by ignoring it,” said Rey.

Leia thought for a moment. “I think we both know what we want to do, or what we have to do.”

“We? Are you going with me? You can’t fight!” said Rey.

“I’m going to save my son,” said Leia.

“How can we take on what might be dozens of troops that already defeated Ben?”

“I don’t know, but we have to try,” said Leia.


	14. The Rescue

# The Rescue

Leia stood up in bridge of the cruiser. “Rey and I are going to infiltrate the main First Order ship. This is extremely dangerous, and I can’t ask for help from you. Since Poe is not here, Lieutenant Connix will be in charge while I am gone. There is a chance we may not return.” Leia paused. “May the Force be with You.” Leia’s voice trailed off.

There was mumbling among the crew. 

Rey said “We have a tie fighter we accidentally tractor beamed into our dock. Let’s use that to get into the Star Destroyer. It will be a tight fit, are you up for it?”

“I’ve been in tighter spots before,” said Leia with a smirk.

Finn quietly asked that a few Resistance fighters follow him to an adjacent room. When they reached the room, Finn spoke, “Look, I plan on helping Rey and Leia. I need your help. Are you willing to go with me?” A few in the room shook their heads in agreement. “Good. C-3PO, I need you to pilot the escape ship if needed.”

“Me? Oh my. I’m not a pilot! Why me?” said C-3PO. 

“You can’t fight, and you have arms,” said Finn.

“I have been malfunctioning lately. My motivator chip is damaged. I’m afraid I cannot go,” said C=3PO.

R2-D2 bumped C-3PO and beeped and whirred. 

“You want to give me your motivator chip?” said C-3PO.

R2 beeped and whirred.

“Oh my,” said C-3PO.

A nearby technician motioned to C-3PO and R2-D2. “Alright then, come with me I’ll make the switch.”

A few moments later, after the switch, C-3PO looked around. R2-D2 was not moving.

“What is wrong with R2?” said C-3PO.

“He didn’t respond after the switch. He appears to be down,” said the technician.

“He sacrificed himself for you, 3PO, that’s what friends do,” said Finn.

“Oh my. Maybe that little droid isn’t so bad after all.”

**************************************

Rey and Leia squeezed into the tie fighter and took off. After they came out of light speed, and were half-way to the Super Star Destroyer, a Resistance ship appeared behind them. 

“Who is that, and why are they following us?” said Rey.

The Resistance ship started shooting at them.

“They are shooting at us? What?” said Rey.

“Their shots are missing, by a lot.” I think I know what they are doing,” said Leia.

“Bank and weave, pretend like they are chasing us,” said Leia.

Rey and Leia’s tie fighter turned and weaved and erratically headed towards the Super Star Destroyer. The Resistance ship followed close behind, shooting. Once the tie fighter entered the bay of the Destroyer, Rey started firing on the troopers in the bay. The Resistance ship behind them also started firing into the crowds. Chaos ensued and troops scattered. Rey and Leia exited their ship, as did the few Resistance fighters behind them. 

Rey blocked laser bolts as Leia shot with a blaster. Finn and the other Resistance fighters shot and moved. The initial shots of their ships did some damage to the troops in the hangar, but they still out-numbered the Resistance considerably. Rey saw Ben in the corner. “Leia! Ben’s over there!” And they tried to move forward towards him.

About half-way to Ben, Baldaar Ren appeared with two other Knights to block their way. Leia shot at Baldaar but he easily blocked with his axe.

“You go no more,” said Baldaar. Rey swung at Baldaar with her double-bladed lightsaber. Baldaar blocked. The other two Knights swung at Rey in unison and Rey backed up a bit and blocked with each side of her saber. Leia shot at a Knight and he recoiled, but recovered, his armor protected him.

Baldaar’s axe came down on Rey with great force. Rey blocked from up high, but Baldaar’s strength was pushing his axe closer and closer to Rey’s head.

Leia saw their predicament. She kept her gun pointed forward but did not fire. Suddenly two shipping containers from the left the right came from nowhere and struck Baldaar and one Knight. They were knocked to the ground, and appeared to be unconscious. The other Knight retreated.

Leia opened her eyes and Rey turned around with a look of astonishment. “Where did that come from?” said Rey.

“I’ve been practicing,” said Leia with a smirk.

Finn, firing at troopers behind the ship, saw out of the corner of his eye, as the kids exited the ship. “How, how did they get on the ship?”

The kids made their way to a corner of the hangar.

A trooper came within twelve meters of the kids. He saw the kids and moved towards them. “Oh no, I’m scared!” said Timiri. The trooper lowered his weapon, considered the kids not to be a threat and turned to the battle again. Suddenly his feet were jerked out from under him and he fell on his face. He got back up to his knees and the kids smiled and looked at each other. The trooper moved towards the kids again, but right before reaching them, Finn shot the trooper.

“Kids, you are… what…! Just stay here and don’t die!” said Finn. 

Rey and Leia moved forward again, their progress was now stopped by another dark Knight, Sosh Ren.

Rey shouted “You!” Rey swung violently at Sosh with her double-bladed lightsaber. Sosh blocked. Rey swung again even more violently, “You killed Chewbacca!”

Rey moved forward again and rapidly swung with five violent motions, the last Sosh blocked and they were locked next to each other, struggling, with their faces close.

Sosh backed away. “Wrong place, wrong time,” said Sosh.

Leia, seeing the rage build up in Rey, shouted “Rey, remember your training! No anger!”

Sosh, seeing Rey leave her side open from another exaggerated swing, cut Rey in her side, grazing her hip. Rey was wounded and backed up to take a breath. Suddenly something exploded near Sosh and she was knocked down. 

Leia resumed firing and Rey resumed blocking as they moved closer to Ben. However more troopers were focused on them. More and more shots were fired at Rey and Leia, and Rey was not able to block them all. Leia took a blaster shot to the shoulder. This distracted Rey and Leia took another shot to the thigh and abdomen. She fell on her back, in seething pain.

“LEIA!” yelled Rey. “OH NO. HOLD, HOLD ON!”

Leia was weakening, in great pain and Rey could not reach down to her, she had to block the onslaught of blaster fire still focused on them. 

“FINN WE NEED YOU!” yelled Rey.

Finn was too far away and could not hear. 

“LEIA, LEIA, ARRGHHH” yelled Rey, frustrated and scared. Rey reached back and created a Force blast at the troopers in front of her, knocking most down. This allowed her to look down at Leia and see that she was barely breathing.

The trooper fire resumed, focused on Rey. Rey felt helpless.

Suddenly Leia’s body slowly started to rise, when it rose to about Rey’s waist height it started slowly moving towards Ben Solo. Rey saw concern and concentration and on Ben’s face.

Rey continued to block shots and move with Leia as she gently floated to Ben. When she reached Ben, she was out of immediate danger behind the shipping containers shielding Ben. Ben lowered her at his feet and leaned over Leia.

“MOM! NO!” said Ben.

Leia looked up at her son. “Ben, I’m sorry. I should have done better. WE should have. Can you ever forgive us?”

Ben did not speak, just stared down at her, his eyes welling up with tears as intense love and concern, emotions he has not felt in decades, welled up inside him.

Leia lifted her hand up to his face ever so gently, cupping his cheek with her hand. She smiled softly, with eyes crinkling. With the emotion of a mother who had just met her newborn child, like a mother who has just lost her child, like a mother who wished more than the world itself that she could bring her child back, she softly spoke.

“My boy.”

And then her body grew still.

Ben’s face went from fear to panic. Rey’s face went from fear to shock. 

“NO, MOM, NO!” said Ben.

Rey swung her saber and broke Ben’s cuffs. 

“WE NEED TO GET TO SAFETY. CARRY HER! GO!” shouted Rey.

With tears streaming down his white cheeks, Ben Solo ran with his mother in his arms to the corner of the hangar behind a large control panel, out of immediate fire. Finn and the other Resistance fighters were keeping this area safe.

Ben looked down at Leia. She was gone.

Ben burst out with emotion and started uncontrollably bawling.

“WHAT HAVE I DONE? WHAT HAVE I DONE?”

More wailing.

“I WAS SO SELFISH SO…SO…SO...!”

Ben Solo could not be consoled.

****************************

Finn spoke into his communicator. “3PO! Tell the others we need more help! We can’t hold this position much longer!”

“Oh, yes sir Finn, right away!” said C-3PO.

Another tie fighter entered the hangar. Finn thought to himself, “Is that ours?”

The tie fighter seemed to hesitate and look for a proper place to land. Then suddenly before landing it raised up and started firing at the small band of Resistance fighters on the right side of the hangar.

The small band of Resistance fighters scrambled in a panic. One lay killed from the blast.

Finn was stunned, but had an idea. He ran into the tie fighter Rey and Leia used and ignited its engines. The other tie fighter was still firing on individual Resistance fighters. Finn turned his fighter to meet the new fighter. The new fighter saw what Finn was doing and turned to meet him. In slow motion each fighter turned to meet each other, and one fired, blowing up the other!

As the smoke cleared, Finn peeked his head out of his fighter. The small band of Resistance fighters cheered. Finn stayed in his fighter and took a few more shots at the First Order. A crack appeared in the dome of the fighter and Finn decided it was time to exit and fight on foot.

************************************

Rey was full of sorrow and regret, but that quickly turned into determination and rage. She walked back into the fight, targeting the Knights. She blocked and weaved and swung and punched, and reached Garmoth and Baldaar Ren, standing near Sosh Ren who was still not standing after the blast.

Garmoth Ren lit the red saber of Kylo Ren.

“So, you are the mighty Rey!” said Garmoth. “You are strong with the Force!”

‘You have no idea,” said Rey with a violent upward, then downward swing, and a Force push, she knocked the weapon out of Garmoth’s hands, though he quickly picked it up again. 

Garmoth and Rey continued probing each other for openings. “You would be a great Knight of Ren.”

Rey said nothing.

“You should join us, we could show you powers you have never conceived of, more powerful than you could imagine.”

***********************************

Temiri and Haita saw Ben Solo crying in the corner. They looked at each other and slowly approached. He was the mean, dark man, but didn’t seem so mean now. As Ben sat there crying to himself, Temiri came up to him and handed him his lightsaber. Ben looked at the saber in shock. It was Luke’s lightsaber, the saber that Ben wanted so badly, that passed through his grasp and went to Rey. It was now his.

Temiri smiled and the kids ran away.

***********************************

“You could have a family, power, status, a purpose. In fact, you could kill her right now and take her place. She killed your friend, we know it would be satisfying.”

Sosh looked at Garmoth with a puzzled and scared look. 

Rey looked at Sosh. She hated Sosh for what she did to Chewbacca. She did want more power to save her friends. She could not stand another loss, Streak, Chewbacca, and now her mother figure, Leia, all could have been saved with more power.

Rey paused.

“Don’t make the same mistake I did,” said a voice behind Rey.

Rey flipped around.

Ben Solo looked in Rey’s eyes, and ignited Luke’s lightsaber.


	15. Change

# Change

Rey looked at Ben, this had happened before, but something was different. Liquid still wet Ben’s red eyes. Ben nodded at Rey. Rey let a slight smile crack her mouth, and turned around to look at her opponents. 

But instead of attacking Sosh, she swung at Baldaar Ren and Dandor Ren, while Ben Solo attacked Garmoth, Raj and Laq Ren. Sosh Ren backed away from the fight.

Baldaar Ren made a loop and swung down powerfully on Rey with his axe. Rey tried to block with her saber but the sheer power of the swing made her fall to the ground. Baldaar swung again as Rey was on the ground, but Rey instead used a Force push to make the axe of Baldaar jerk upwards a bit. She tumbled away and got back up to her feet.

Rey acrobatically jumped behind Baldaar and swung. Baldaar backed up and blocked her swing from above. Dandor Ren swung at Rey’s feet and she jumped and swung at Baldaar. 

Baldaar swung again at Rey and she blocked with one side of her saber, then carefully angled the saber to tap the end of the axe handle. This dislodged the weapon from his hand and he fell to the floor without a defense. 

Ben aggressively swung at Garmoth. Garmoth backed up and blocked with Kylo’s red saber. They said nothing, and looked at each other directly in the eyes. Garmoth and Ben violently swung and parried, swung and parried. Fear came into the eyes of Garmoth. Ben faked a swing at Garmoth’s upper body and instead swung at his legs and sliced the side of his calf. Raj and Laq Ren stood a pace away, and had not engaged yet, then decided to attack in unison, one swinging high and the other low. Ben ducked and blocked the low swing. He then moved to engage Raj Ren alone. With a quick, powerful swing he knocked the weapon out of Raj’s hand and sliced his torso. Raj fell, and Laq Ren backed up in fear.

General Hux suddenly appeared behind the Knights, and pulled the clothing covering the instrument on his forearm. He pushed a button and out flew several flying bots. The bots spread out about 15 feet up and covered an area of about 20 meters in a circle. They then started firing on everybody in the circle from every angle. Ben and Rey were unable to block all the shots and fell, stunned. The Knights cowered from the blasts, but arose unscathed.

“Enough!” yelled General Hux.

Garmoth stood over Ben, who was on the ground, unable to move. “The difference between you and me? I saw this coming and had armor made.” Garmoth pointed to his chest.

“I didn’t organize this coup only to have it fall apart from incompetence!” said Hux as he strolled in front of Rey and Ben. 

Hux stood over Ben Solo. “Look at you know, you bumbling, weak fool! Your reign has ended _Supreme Leader_.” Hux raised his pistol and shot Ben Solo in the stomach. 

Ben fell against his back, shocked at the pain.

Rey weakly said “Ben” and reached out with her hand.

The Resistance fighters and storm troopers stopped firing. The Resistance’s Jedi had fallen, the four remaining Resistance fighters were not enough to take on the storm troopers and Knights. All was lost.

General Hux stood over Ben Solo. He then raised his head and yelled, “CHANGE HAS COME TO THE FIRST ORDER, ORDER HAS COME TO THE FIRST ORDER. THE RESISTANCE HAS FALLEN. ALL YOU FIRST ORDER LEADERS, YOU WILL FOLLOW ME NOW. I AM YOUR SUPREME LEADER.”

General Hux smirked and strutted. The Knights rose and stood behind him.

Ben Solo was writhing in pain, his movements slowing. Rey was helpless to do anything. Finn lowered his weapon in defeat. The other Resistance fighters looked around, unsure what to do.

“ARREST ALL RESISTANCE!” yelled General Hux. The troopers ran to the Resistance fighters with guns raised, “You! You are under the arrest of the First Order!” The Resistance fighters raised their hands to show they had no weapons. The troopers gathered all Resistance fighters, Finn, Rey, Ben and the kids in the center of the hangar, guarded with guns pointed.

Rey sat near Ben Solo, tears in her eyes, “Hold on Ben, be strong…”

General Hux strode over to Rey. “Your boyfriend is dying. Nothing can stop it.”

Rey looked up at Hux and snarled. “You are a despicable creature.”

General Hux smirked “Yes, well, I won and you will be dead soon.”

Garmoth Ren spoke with a raised voice, “Hey Supreme Leader!” He pulled out an object from his pocket and pushed a button. Suddenly General Hux vibrated and shook uncontrollably, he pulled out the small communication device the Knights had given him, and looked at the Knights in shock. He reached for the button on his forearm, but was unable to reach it. He fell to the ground, completely still. General Hux was dead.

Garmoth Ren then shouted “GENERAL HUX WAS RIGHT, CHANGE HAS COME TO THE FIRST ORDER. THE KNIGHTS OF REN ARE YOUR NEW SUPREME LEADERS. YOU WILL OBEY THE KNIGHTS OF REN!”

Finn turned to one of the Resistance fighters next to him, “Oh great, the First Order leadership has gone from one force user to many…”

Garmoth Ren circled the small Resistance band. “Kylo Ren, how the might have fallen. We could have ruled the galaxy together, now look at you!”

“And the mighty Rey, I gave you a choice, and you chose wrong.”

“As for the rest of you Resistance fighters, I have nothing against you, but I suppose you are my enemy now.”

“And two little kids! Baldaar, should we give them back to Sosh, or just kill them?,” said Garmoth.

Baldaar Ren smirked, “Eh, they just eat our food. Just kill ’em.”

Sosh looked at Baldaar, aghast. 

Haita stood and looked at Garmoth, “You are ugly, gross, and smell bad. We are not going to be anybody’s slaves anymore!”

Garmoth turned and backhanded Haita across the face. She fell to the floor. “Maybe you are right Baldaar, they aren’t worth the trouble!”

“STOP! The kids are mine!” said Sosh and raised her weapon.

Garmoth raised his weapon, “I’ve tolerated your pet project for a long time now, if you will not obey me you will be destroyed.”

Sosh raised her weapon against Garmoth, but didn’t see Laq Ren stab her from behind. She fell.

Sosh was dying. Rey did not exactly like Sosh, but felt some compassion. She moved over to her and held her hand. 

Sosh looked up at her and said “…I would have taken good care of the kids…”

“I know you would have,” said Rey.

Rey said nothing more, and Sosh’s breathing stopped.

Suddenly a shot came from the Resistance ship in the hangar. C-3PO had fired the main weapon, although it did not hit anything.

“Take that, First Order! That’s what my friend R2 would do!” said C-3PO.

Everybody scrambled. Garmoth Ren pointed at the ship and yelled, “Somebody destroy that ship!”

Eight troopers ran to the loading ram of the Resistance ship, then loud explosions were heard across the ship. Someone was attacking the Star Destroyer!


	16. The End

# The End

Rey and Ben looked out the hangar into space. They saw dozens of ships flying by, turning diving, and firing at First Order ships and on the Star Destroyer they were on. 

Finn, seeing what was happening, got on his communicator, “3PO! Tell the Resistance not to shoot this ship! And we need more troops here!”

“Oh my, yes sir, right away!” said C-3PO.

Outside the Star Destroyer, a great battle was taking place in space. Dozens of ships of all kinds were firing on the tie fighters. The primary Resistance cruiser was back and attempting to pull in disabled Resistance ships.

In a moment, three small Resistance ships made their way into the hangar and fighters exited to join the fight.

Rey was holding Ben’s hand. His face was white, and his movements were slow. “No, no no! Hold on Ben!”

“I was wrong, so wrong, Rey, I’m sorry,” said Ben Solo.

Rey lifted Ben enough to embrace him. “I know I know, Ben, you need to fight…”

Despite the fighting and chaos around them, Rey and Ben barely noticed. They said nothing.

Rey heard her communicator make a noise. It was Poe. “Rey, are you alright? Where are you?”

“Poe? You are OK? I need a medic, Ben is injured!”

“Ben who?” said Poe.

“Ben Solo! We are on the main Star Destroyer, send all your troops here, the First Order leaders are here!”.

“You want us to rescue Kylo Ren?” said Poe.

“Just send a medic!” said Rey. “And troops!”

In a moment, more troops arrived. These troops were more disheveled, no uniforms, people and creatures of many different species.

Suddenly Ben went limp.

“Ben! No, Ben!” said Rey.

Rey held Ben Solo. For an entire minute, Rey held Ben, but felt no movement or breath from him.

Then she listened to his chest. His heart was still beating. She listened to his breath, he was breathing very faintly.

After several moments, the battle was over. The Resistance had won.

Ben was taken to a Resistance medic center. Rey went with him.

Poe found Finn in the hangar. “Finn! You are OK! That’s great!”

“We thought you were dead!” said Finn. 

“Well, I almost was!”

They both looked at the scene in the hangar. Leia, Hux, two Knights of Ren, and several fighters from both sides were dead. The twelve First Order leaders were huddled on the ground next to several stormtroopers, being guarded by Resistance fighters.

“What a scene. What do we do now?” said Poe.

“You are the leader of the Resistance, you’ll figure it out,” said Finn. “But hold on, I have something I want to do.”

Finn made his way to a large stack of shipping containers. He climbed up to the top and yelled out.

“The battle is over. The Resistance has won. We do not want to fight any longer. I was once a storm trooper like you. I left so I wouldn’t be part of the atrocities of the First Order. You don’t have to be troopers anymore. You can be free for the first time in your life. I can help you. Take off your masks and join me!”

All the storm troopers in the room looked around at each other and back at Finn. After about 30 seconds, a solitary stormtrooper took his helmet off. Then another. Then three more. Then seven more.

Finn smiled.

**************************************

A few days later, on the main Resistance cruiser, C-3PO approached Poe. “General Poe, how is R2-D2?”

“I believe they found a motivator chip and they are installing it now,” said Poe.

“May I go see him?” said C-3PO?

“Sure, 3PO”.

Poe and C-3PO made their way to the technicians. R2-D2 was alive and well. 

“R2-D2, I am sorry for being, well, rude to you for so long. I am terribly sorry.”

R2-D2 beeped and whirred.

“I’m glad to have my friend back, too.” said C-3PO.

Rey approached Ben. He was healing, but still in bed.

Ben got out of his bed in the infirmary and stood. He had to steady himself as he rose.

“Thank you for saving me,” said Ben Solo.

“Thank you for turning to the good side, and actually staying this time.” said Rey with a smile.

Rey and Ben embraced, their faces close, smiling.

“I want to talk to your leaders,” said Ben.

“Are you sure you are healed enough?” said Rey.

“Just bring me to them,” said Ben.

Rey and Ben walked to the bridge of the ship. Poe, Rose, Lieutenant Connix, Finn, the kids, and another friendly face were there.

“Miss Gliph! said Finn. “You are here!”

“Yes my dear, I am. Many of us heard the Resistance message sent across the galaxy and flew to help. That girl over there, Rose, delivered the message.” Gliph pointed at Rose across the room. “She is a nice girl, with a kind heart.”

“Yes, she does have a good heart,” said Finn. “a very good heart.”

Finn smiled at Rose across the room. Rose smiled back.

Ben Solo entered the room. The room became quiet and everyone looked at Ben.

“Hello. I know you know who I am, and I am sure you do not trust me, and I understand,” said Ben. “But I intend show you by my actions. I can show you how to transfer First Order funds into your account. I can show you where to attack to further take down remaining remnants of the First Order.”

“And I will personally go and destroy the First Order on my own. I will dedicate my life to wiping them out of the galaxy,” said Ben.

“Hold on, he’s done a lot of terrible stuff, we can’t just let him go, right? Shouldn’t he pay for his crimes?!” said Finn.

Several people in the room started mumbling and talking quietly.

“I’m not going to let you, _trooper_!” said Ben, and he pointed right at Finn. He stumbled as he turned, still not healed from his injuries.

Gliph walked forward one pace. “I know he’s done terrible things, but I feel his heart now is in the right place.”

“I’m going to end the First Order, and them I’m going to some corner of some far away planet and live out my life.”

Ben then turned to look at Rey in the eyes, “Come find me.”

*******************************************

Later, Rey approached the kids Temiri and Haita. “Kids, I know I said I will train you, but more important than that I think you need a real mom. Now there are many good, experienced moms in the Resistance. Can we find you one?”

The kids looked at each other.

“We would like it if you could take care of us, be our mom.”

Rey smiled. “Well…I was secretly hoping you’d say that.”

Rey and the children embraced for an entire minute.

“So, what is your favorite color? I think I owe you two a lightsaber.” said Rey.

“Not red!” said Haita. 

Rey, Temiri & Haita laughed and looked at the stars through the window of the ship.

Peace had once again been restored to the galaxy.


End file.
